Cultural Reproduction and International Student Mobility

RUNNING HEAD: CULTURAL REPRODUCTION
CULTURAL REPRODUCTION AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOBILITY
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note:

1CULTURAL REPRODUCTION
Bordieu’s theory of cultural reproduction has been instrumental in the generation of a large
number of empirical as well as theoretical literatures. The main significance of the theory is its
focus on the fact that culture, basically is a component of the cognitive learning process, a set of
norms that are transmitted from generation to generation and in the process it sustains the
continuity of a cultural existence (Rukh 2014).
According to Bourdieu, in the society that s highly industrialized, the education system
mainly works as the propagator of the class iniqualities. Success in the education system largely
depends on the possession of cultural capital and of higher-class habitus. He understands that the
trends in mobility of international students are greatly influenced by the cultural reproduction. In
the context of the usage of English as the capital language, it is to be understood that the
assumed supremacy of the language has put itself as a capital language, the knowledge of which
is indispensible to have the accesses to the top ranked universities of the world (.Pherali 2016).
Students, who are otherwise meritorious, but did not have the opportunity of learning English,
are being discriminated by the colleges and the students as well. Thus, Bordieu views the cultural
reproduction as a means of class inequalities in the educational attainment.
As per the theory of cultural capital, Bordieu is of the view that familiarity with the most
dominant culture of the society and the notion that this culture is the culture of the sophisticated
and educated is the basis of the creation of the cultural capital. Bordieu is also of the opinion that
the lowe class people faces a serious disadvantage in getting through the top ranked universities
and thus, the educational system plays a crucial role in manipulating the status quo (Jæger and
Breen 2016)
The supremacy of English as a language of the elites has its root in the colonial history of
the world. The present generation of students who have to move out from their own countries