External Factors

Question 1

What is cultural capital?

Answer 1

The knowledge, attitudes, values, language, tastes, and abilities that the middle class transmit to their children

Question 2

What does Bourdieu argue about educational success?

Answer 2

It is largely based on possession of cultural capital, thus giving middle class children an advantage

Question 3

What does Bourdieu say the middle class possess?

Answer 3

More economic capital, educational capital, and cultural capital than the working class

Question 4

How does cultural capital give the middle class an advantage?

Answer 4

Through their socialisation, middle class children acquire the ability to grasp, analyse and express abstract ideas, whereas the middle class lack cultural capital leading to exam failure

Question 5

How can economic capital be converted into educational capital?

Answer 5

Wealthier parents can send their children to private schools and pay extra for tuition

Question 6

What did Sullivan find?

Answer 6

Those who read complex fiction and watched serious tv documentaries developed a wider vocabulary and greater cultural knowledge, indicating greater cultural capital

Question 7

What is social capital?

Answer 7

Social networks of influence and support that people have through involvement and cooperation with neighbours, community life and professional groups

Question 8

What can social capital mean for the middle class?

Answer 8

Knowing the right people, who to get advice from, and who is in a position to help (eg teachers who could offer specific subject advice)