Bourdieu - Cultural Capital

According to Bourdieu there are 3 kinds of Capital: Economic Capital, Social Capital and Cultural Capital.

You may recall that when we discussed Marx we talked about "capital" as not just money but money that can make money. Bourdieu's ideas of capital are similar in that they are traits which can be built upon to gain more "capital."  Similarly, one kind of capital can often be exchanged or parlayed into other kinds of capital.  As you move forward you should as yourself,  "what makes a trait 'capital'?"  and "Who gets to decide which traits are valuable?"


This blog post will focus upon Cultural Capital.  Cultural capital includes symbolic elements of capital such as forms of knowledge, skills, posture, accents, mannerisms, material objects and  education.

 "Cultural capital can be acquired, to a varying extent, depending on the period, the society, and the social class, in the absence of any deliberate inculcation, and therefore quite unconsciously. It always remains marked by its earliest conditions of acquisition which, through the more or less visible marks they leave (such as the pronunciations characteristic of a class or region), help to determine its distinctive value."(Bourdieu, 1986)

 Having the "right" kinds of capital can create advantages for that person, giving them a higher status in society.  There are three categories of cultural capital:

In the scene below we see Frasier and his father struggle with having very different tastes in material objects. Though Frasier is Marty's son, he has cultivated a very different kind of cultural capital creating conflict between these two.

1. Embodied Cultural Capital: This is capital that is related to our bodies. This can include attributes like language (accent, euphemisms, vocabulary, colloquialisms), [preferred] bodily composition (highly muscled, fake tans, body weight, manicures) and posture.  In the film stills from above we can see how actors learn to adjust their embodied cultural capital to portray characters from a variety of economic backgrounds.  A combination of acting (embodied), hair/makeup (embodied), and costuming (objectified) allows these actors to send cues that the audience can pick up on to understand the character's socioeconomic background before (or without) being told what that background is.
2. Objectified Cultural Capital: This is material capital. These are the things we own like furniture, clothes, jewelry, and cars.  However, objectified cultural capital is more than just what we own, but what we want to own and what we decide to own.  Our tastes combined with our economic capital can combine to dictate what sorts of objects we collect. Do we prefer antique furniture or new? Do we want to spend our money on technological gadgets or a box at the opera? (see Frasier Episode Above)  
3.   Institutional Cultural Capital:  Degrees and credentials that are acquired can be a form of cultural capital.  

We all have cultural capital and we all have a lot of cultural capital, but some kinds of capital are more valued than others. These kinds of cultural capital are seen as demonstrating cultural competence within a given field. Depending upon the field different kinds of capital are going to be valued. The cultural capital that will gain you access and acceptance at a country club is going to be quite different than the kinds of cultural capital that produce "Street Cred"

Generally,  those kinds of cultural capital associated with the upper class are more highly valued and easily parlayed into other kinds of capital.   These kinds of cultural capital can contribute social mobility, or lack there of.

Many of our readings have focused upon the way that certain kinds of cultural capital are favored within educational institutions, thus making it easier and more likely that students who already have that capital are more likely to acquire Institutional Cultural Capital.   Educational settings often favor middle-class ways of being. This is what is often called the "hidden curriculum" which pertains to attitudes and behaviors expected of students.

Habitus in Popular Culture

To begin with, and in short, Habitus is your way of being.  It is the collected aspects of culture that are anchored in the body or daily practices of individuals and groups. It includes the totality of learned habits, bodily skills, styles, tastes, and other non-discursive knowledges that might be said to "go without saying" for a specific group (Bourdieu 1990:66-67).  You might think of it as a persons...groove. It is also the basis for a person's cultural capital.

Old Man: "His groove! The rhythm in which he lives his life. His pattern of behavior. I threw it off. And the Emperor had me thrown out the window!" (The Emperor's New Groove).

Bourdieu tells us that our habitus, our ways of being, are at least partly instilled through the social structures around us.  Though the process of internalizing these social and cultural structures - into our tastes, habits, bodies - we are also being interpolated into an existing social hierarchy.  One that privileges certain ways of being over others, as being more legitimate and of more value.  Remember, Bourdieu is a conflict theorist, so it makes sense to see   taste (and the legitimation of certain tastes over others) as part of the class conflict.  "The main way this happens is through what he calls ‘habitus’ or socialised norms or tendencies that guide behaviour and thinking. Habitus is ‘the way society becomes deposited in persons in the form of lasting dispositions, or trained capacities and structured propensities to think, feel and act in determinant ways, which then guide them’" (Wacquant 2005: 316, cited in Navarro 2006: 16, cited on bourdieu-and-habitus).

Now our habitus is neither something we can control nor is it purely determined by structures. It is created by a kind of interplay between the two over time.  A mutually constitutive relationship between the individual and society that creates the amalgam of practices and preferences we call habitus.  In this sense habitus is created and reproduced unconsciously, ‘without any deliberate pursuit of coherence… without any conscious concentration’ (Bourdieu 1984: 170).



"embodied capital, external wealth converted into an integral part of the person, into a habitus, cannot be transmitted instantaneously (unlike money, property rights, or even titles of nobility) by gift or bequest, purchase or exchange."(Bourdieu, 1986)  But it can be changed over time.




The theme of changing an individual's cultural capital as a means to change or conceal habitus is a repeated often within popular culture.

A classic example is the movie My Fair Lady (which is a musical production of the earlier work Pygmalion).  A woman of low class standing (Eliza Doolittle) is "transformed" - coached in deportment and language by Henry Higgins - into a lady of high class standing.  In the end she is able to pass as a Duchess among the upper class at a ball.

In this first video (above) you will see Eliza early in her transformation.  If you would like to see her prior to any intervention use this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9E8KDx2cwk).  Her Cockney accent is thick and pronounced, giving away her social standing.


 Even after Eliza is coached to speak as an upper class woman, she is still not able to pass.  Her habitus and life experiences give her away.  In the scene to the left we see Eliza socializing with the upper class at a horse race.

What is it about Eliza that gives her away?  Why does her topic of conversation reveal her class background?

This particular scene was reused in Pretty Woman a modern update of the Pygmalion story that follows the My Fair Lady plot (withe some important changes).

The narrative of transformation and "rags to riches" in these movies makes them similar to Cinderella Stories. However,Cinderella, in the original fairy tale, comes from an upper class background and has simply been oppressed by her stepmother.  She does not require a change to her habitus.  The Pygmalion narrative incorporates instilling different habits, tastes, mannerisms, gestures and language use.  In essence, the transformation of habitus.

In the end, whether it is Eliza in My Fair Lady, Vivian from Pretty Woman, Lany Boggs from She's All That the transformation is complete, but not flawless.  Contemporary versions often include a "beautiful all along" element to the plot that softens the classism inherent in these stories. For more examples go to http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PygmalionPlot



Another example where we can see habitus in Popular Culture is the 2003 reality TV Show "Joe Millionaire."  In a gender reversal of the tropes described above in this case the individual undergoing transformation is Evan Marriott a construction worker. You can see the trailer for this show below.  Interestingly, it is Evan's habitus that gives him away.  At least one contestant, Allison, begins to suspect that Evan is not who he says he is when he fails to appreciate (or eat) the goat cheese served on one of their dates.  In her words "who doesn't like goat cheese?"