Diversity concepts and applications

Cultural Capital Theory of Pierre Bourdieu

The section discussing Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Reproduction, also termed as the Cultural Capitalism theory, illustrates how economic stratification results to social stratification within a society, and vice versa. Bourdieu's Theory of Reproduction is exemplified in the educational system, where economics and social roles and classes are inevitably related with each other. In this section, the social phenomenon of socio-economic stratification between the high- and middle-class and low-class students is perpetuated. By making quality education available only to the middle- and high-class families, the society is advocating the fact that it is imperative that an individual must be financially capable of providing for his/her formal education. Furthermore, students belonging to low-class families are further relegated down onto the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, primarily because they were not given formal education simply because they could not afford to have it. This is exemplified in the fact that, "social class background is mediated through a complex set of factors that interact in different ways at different levels of schooling" (13). Since poor students cannot go beyond secondary education to pursue a higher education or degree due to financial difficulties, they have limited options in pursuing a successful life. It does not also help that society, particularly the business sector, considers educational attainment as an essential factor in determining the level of opportunity that it can provide for the individual when applying for work. In effect, the theory of reproduction becomes a cycle wherein the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer, simply through the provision and non-provision of education for the middle- and high-class and low-class sectors, respectively. Thus, Bourdieu provides a summary of the causality between economics and social dynamics, wherein one depends on the other, affecting the order of the society by dividing its members according to their socio-economic capabilities (socio-economic classes).