On the Nature of Cultural Capital: The Reinforcing Action of Non-Elite Forms and Racial Differences in Student Achievement in the Middle Class

Abstract

This dissertation argues that cultural capital is self-reinforcing in nature. This conjecture is explored through the analysis of sixth-four semi-structured interviews with black and white middle class parents. The first phase of the analysis investigates how the use of one form of non-elite cultural capital, racial socialization, varies among middle class black parents and how it is related to their deployment of elite forms of parental cultural capital. Throughout the dissertation elite parental cultural capital is operationalized as parents' educational aspirations, parental encouragement of academic engagement and promotion of the work ethic. Next, the relationship between the use of elite parental cultural capital and adolescents' academic achievement is evaluated for black and white middle class families. Ultimately the link between the use of non-elite cultural capital and racial differences in academic outcomes is examined. The results suggest that there may be subtle differences in cultural socialization practices among black parents in this sample, which are apparently correlated with their use of elite cultural capital. This implies that non-elite cultural capital has the potential to reinforce elite cultural capital. However, this appears to have only a weak relationship to the achievement of black adolescents or to the racial achievement gap.