Understanding Bourdieu's Perspective on Cultural and Social Capital

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Pierre Bourdieu's perspective on capital, focusing on social and cultural capital. It begins with an introduction to Bourdieu's background and his contributions to sociology, particularly his analysis of power dynamics in society. The essay then delves into the core concepts of social and cultural capital, as defined by Bourdieu, including the economic and symbolic forms of capital. Social capital is examined as the non-economic resources gained from social relationships, such as education and intellectual qualities, while cultural capital is explored in terms of education, intellect, and the ability to influence others through speech, emphasizing the role of these resources in social mobility. The document highlights the differences between social and cultural capital, and concludes by summarizing the importance of non-economic resources in achieving social mobility. The essay references various scholarly works to support the arguments presented.

Running head: PERSPECTIVE ON CAPITAL
Perspective on capital
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Social, cultural capital:....................................................................................................................2
Social capital:...................................................................................................................................4
Cultural capital:...............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
Born on August 01, 1930 Pierre Felix Bourdieu was a socialist and philosopher. Being a
French nationalist Bourdieu was very vocal about rights of the marginalized and never afraid to
raise his voice for the social causes. The society and the power dynamics of the society have
been explained in details in his works. The subtle ways in which the society transfers powers
without disrupting the orders of the society have been elaborated in detail by the anthropologist
and public intellectual. In this document, the explanation that has been provided by the socialist
on social and cultural capital has been documented for the benefit of the readers.
Social, cultural capital:
The very concept of social capital has been introduced and promulgated by Pierre Felix
Bourdieu. According to the author, the social capital includes but not restricted to the gain of
economic resources from network of social relationships that accrues to a person. Thus, the
economic gain that one made from being part of a social network of relationships is to be
considered social capital. The author has also included non-economic resources that improve
social mobility as part of social capital. Hence, it is clear that Bourdieu has not restricted social
capital concept to the gain of economic resources (Edgerton et. al. 2014).
The notion of capital that has been provided by Bourdieu is broader in perspective as he
extended the concept of capital. According to the author it is not merely the assets or money that
can be defined as capital rather only when these resources will be put to productive usage that
these will be considered capital. After defining the concept of capital, he extended his concept by
classifying the capital into several principle forms (Serre and Wagner 2015). According to the
public intellectual capital can be classified into the following broad categories:

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I. Economic.
II. Symbolic.
III. Cultural and
IV. Social.
However, the discussion in this document will be restricted to social and cultural capital
however; a brief discussion shall be made on the other two principle forms of capital that the
author has explained in detail in his works (Jones and Williams 2017).
Economic capital:
According to Bourdieu, economic capital refers to the capital, i.e. assets, money and other
economic resources that are used for any economic activity with the objective to enhance the
value of these resources. Thus, the assets, money and other economic resources that are used in
business as capital can be defined as economic capital since these are invested in businesses with
the objective of earning profit and maximizing the wealth of the investors (Krarup and Munk
2016).
Symbolic capital:
The author has provided extensive explanation on the concept of symbolic capital that
mainly includes honour and prestige. The reason that honour and prestige have been
conceptualized as symbolic capital as it is almost impossible to put a price or value on these two
elements. Thus, the author has defined them as symbolic capital (Fine 2018).
The discussion on social and cultural capital as explained by Bourdieu in his work.

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Social capital:
Those who have studied sociology are quite familiarize with the phrase social capital. In
sociology the social assets of a person, which consist of education, intellectual qualities,
intelligent quotient, ability to influence others with speech, and dress sense, are all part of social
capital. All these are required for social mobility and influence one’s ability to mobilize in the
society. Bourdieu has defined these attributes as non-economic resources that are beyond any
economic value. The concept of capital provided by Bourdieu has specifically made provision
for non-economic resources as part of capital (Kamphuis et. al. 2015). According to the writer
the non-economic resources which enhance the ability of an individual to mobilize in the society
are to be regarded as capital, rather more specific as social capital. Often there are questions
raised by many as to the difference between symbolic and social capital, two of the four principal
forms of capital as conceptualized by the Bourdieu. Well there is a huge difference between the
symbolic capital and social capital. While discussing about symbolic capital the author has
specifically mentioned only two elements, these two elements are prestige and honour. Social
capital on the other hand has mentioned the non-economic resources that one has to either
develop or learn. For example education, whether higher or primary education, one has to learn.
Similarly, the ability to speak in a certain way to influence others is a skill that one has to
develop over a period of time. Thus, in social capital these are resources which though are non-
economic in nature but these are something which are either one has to learn or develop over a
period of time. Compare these non-economic resources with the two elements of symbolic
capital, i.e. prestige and honour; it is clear that there are significant and specific differences
between the non-economic resources of social capital and non-economic resources of symbolic
capital (Pinxten and Lievens 2014).

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Thus, social capital according to Bourdieu consists of one’s education, ability to read and
write, ability to influence others by speech, intelligent quotient, intellectual ability and other such
qualities. All these qualities help an individual to mobilize in the society. Thus, social mobility
improves with abundance of social capital and Bourdieu explained that in detail in his work on
capital (Hilgers and Mangez 2014).
Cultural capital:
The difference between social and cultural capital is very thin and thus, often people
confuse between the two. In-fact in sociology both, i.e. social and cultural capital, have been
defined as identical to one another. Cultural capital in sociology has been defined as the social
assets one possess, i.e. education, intellect, ability to read and write, speech, dressing sense and
others). Thus, in sociology no differences have been made between the social capital and cultural
capital. Bourdieu has made the difference between social capital and cultural capital in his work.
According to the author though there is very thin difference between social and cultural capital
however, the slightest difference between the two have to be identified and respected (Gagné et
al. 2015).
Though the objective of both social and cultural capital is similar, i.e. to promote social
mobility however, there is a unique difference between the two. Cultural capital includes the
following:
Education quality that has been developed in a place over a substantial period of time:
Thus, the education of an individual though is part of social capital but it is the education
structure which has been developed in a place over a period of time is to be considered for the
purpose of cultural capital (Nissenbaum and Shifman 2017).

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Intellectual qualities: The intellectual qualities, which one possess as provided in social capital,
is also to be considered in cultural capital. Thus, the intellectual qualities of an individual is part
of cultural capital.
Ability to influence others through speech: The cultural capital includes the ability of
one’s speech to influence the others. However, the ability to provide an effective speech will be
part of cultural capital only if the same is in accordance with the culture and tradition in a place
(Kalfa and Taksa 2015). Thus, the cultural capital will be about the ability of one to provide
speech that is commensurate with the language of the place in which the speech is being
provided.
It is hard almost impossible to put a price on the various resources which have been
identified as social and cultural capital. However, Bourdieu has defined the immense importance
of social mobility and the role of social and cultural capital in achieving the social mobility.
Bourdieu has extended the concept of capital beyond the realms of economic resources with the
introduction of social, cultural and symbolic capital in addition to the economic capital. Before
the concept promulgated by the author about the various forms of capital it was only about
economic resources such as money and other assets with certain economic values were
considered as capital. In-fact the concept of capital was only limited to the economic capital with
investment in the business as the only element of capital (Lee et. al. 2016).
Conclusion:
Thus, prior to the development of capital theory by Bourdieu the concept of symbolic,
social and cultural capital were not considered as capital. Subsequent to the development of the
theory, the importance of non-economic resources such as education, intellectual qualities,

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intelligent quotient, dress sense and speech are started considered as capital. In-fact the social
mobility is very much dependent on the non-economic resources and thus, to be given due
importance. The promotion of social mobility is smoothen to a large extent with the different
non-economic resources which have been identified by Bourdieu as social and cultural capital.

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References:
Edgerton, J.D. and Roberts, L.W., 2014. Cultural capital or habitus? Bourdieu and beyond in the
explanation of enduring educational inequality. School Field, 12(2), pp.193-220.
Fine, B., 2018. Theories of social capital: Researchers behaving badly. Pluto press.
Gagné, T., Frohlich, K.L. and Abel, T., 2015. Cultural capital and smoking in young adults:
applying new indicators to explore social inequalities in health behaviour. The European Journal
of Public Health, 25(5), pp.818-823.
Hilgers, M. and Mangez, É. eds., 2014. Bourdieu's theory of social fields: concepts and
applications. Routledge.
Jones, I.R. and Williams, G., 2017. Bourdieu, capitals and health. Sociology of health &
illness, 39(1), pp.3-4.
Kalfa, S. and Taksa, L., 2015. Cultural capital in business higher education: reconsidering the
graduate attributes movement and the focus on employability. Studies in Higher
Education, 40(4), pp.580-595.
Kamphuis, C.B., Jansen, T., Mackenbach, J.P. and van Lenthe, F.J., 2015. Bourdieu’s Cultural
Capital in Relation to Food Choices: A Systematic Review of Cultural Capital Indicators and an
Empirical Proof of Concept. PloS one, 10(8), p.e0130695.
Krarup, T. and Munk, M.D., 2016. Field theory in cultural capital studies of educational
attainment. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(5), pp.761-779.

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Lee, S., Chung, J.E. and Park, N., 2016. Linking cultural capital with subjective well-being and
social support: the role of communication networks. Social Science Computer Review, 34(2),
pp.172-196.
Nissenbaum, A. and Shifman, L., 2017. Internet memes as contested cultural capital: The case of
4chan’s/b/board. New Media & Society, 19(4), pp.483-501.
Pinxten, W. and Lievens, J., 2014. The importance of economic, social and cultural capital in
understanding health inequalities: using a Bourdieu‐based approach in research on physical and
mental health perceptions. Sociology of health & illness, 36(7), pp.1095-1110.
Serre, D. and Wagner, A.C., 2015. For a relational approach to cultural capital: a concept tested
by changes in the French social space. The sociological review, 63(2), pp.433-450.