Bourdieu; Capital Cultural

In this video, you'll find a complete summary of what cultural capital means to Bourdieu in all its forms: institutionalized, embodied, and objectified. If you found this short video helpful, you might also be interested in this longer and more comprehensive video:    • Hoy si vas a entender a Pierre Bourdieu   In this text, Bourdieu begins with a critique of the economistic conception of Human Capital theory, which, broadly speaking, states: "The more a country or its members invest in education, whether financially or in terms of study time, the greater the economic benefits or returns for that nation or community, which they will obtain from their educational investment." This is fallacious because it assumes that the return or benefit is calculated directly from the time or money invested in an individual's education. However, there are far more relevant factors for achieving this academic success or "success," namely the hereditary transmission of a clan's cultural capital—that is, the pre-existing investment—which results in differential opportunities that guarantee the reproduction of social inequality. In other words, they overlook academic "aptitude," which is not a natural gift but rather a product of the transmission of cultural capital. Then, he describes the three forms of cultural capital: embodied as lasting dispositions, objectified as cultural elements such as paintings, books, and so on, and institutionalized, for example, degrees that guarantee the possession of a certain amount of cultural capital. EMBODIE Embodied cultural capital takes the form of habitus, or durable and lasting dispositions within the agent's own organism or body, through a prolonged process of inculcation and assimilation. Work is personal, subjective, and therefore non-transferable, accumulating only within the individual through their dispositions, capacities, and aptitudes, such as those for appreciating, accumulating, and developing strategies for preserving and reproducing their own capital. It thus possesses the characteristics of invisibility, of being innate and natural; it is therefore the best of inheritances, the one that goes most unnoticed, thus achieving the effect of merit. It is also important to note that cultural capital is the first to become "symbolic capital," the ultimate symbol of distinction for those who possess it in large quantities, making them individuals of great scarcity. This is because very few families can afford a prolonged education for their children; therein lies the determining factor: time. The transmission of cultural capital in families with the greatest incorporated and objectified cultural capital has three characteristics: precocity, duration, and intensity. It is precocious because instruction begins at a very early age, even encompassing the entire socialization stage. For families with less cultural capital, this process only begins with the entry into school. It is also extensive, since these families can afford the highest level of education attainable: a complete university degree, undergraduate, postgraduate, etc. Meanwhile, families with less capital can barely afford basic education. And it is intense because all the time dedicated to education is maximized by the fact that families with greater cultural capital have abundant free time, and free time is almost equivalent to time for cultural acquisition. It goes without saying that the generalized Arrow effect also plays a role in this intensity; that is, the family's own objectified cultural capital in the form of paintings, sculptures, and books almost automatically becomes a factor in education and acculturation. This is what Bourdieu criticizes in human capital theories, which measure the time dedicated to education as an investment, but this time is always measured in terms of "formal education" and not in terms of the family time spent transmitting or inheriting cultural capital. It should be clarified that the only way to produce Objective Cultural Capital is through the possession of Embodied Cultural Capital. And that the acquisition of Embodied Cultural Capital is always aided by the possession of social capital.