Week 10 - Cultural Capital

Question 1

According to Bourdieu, what are the two factions of the upper class characterized by?

Answer 1

1. Economic capital
2. Cultural capital

Question 2

What are the two conceptual leaps Bourdieu draws to make this conclusion?

Answer 2

1. Sees taste as a source of power comparable to wealth
2. There are two factions of the upper class; the intellectual social class dominates in terms fo cultural capital and the bourgeios in economic capital

Question 3

How does Bourdieu’s view of social class differ from Marx’s

Answer 3

Marxism saw one upper social class (the bourgeoise) while Bourdieu saw two

Question 4

How does Bordieu’s view of social class parallel the medieval class system?

Answer 4

-laborers at the bottom
-oratores (the clergy - religious power) and the bellatores (the noble - temporal power)

Question 5

According to Bourdieu, what are the two ways we define cultural capital?

Answer 5

aesthetics vs substance

Question 6

What did Bourdieu discover when he exmained people’s responses to photos of different topics?

Answer 6

-working class are more interested in the substance of a photo (the folk dance and the first communion) because they view photos as a way of remembering the social occasion
-upper class focused on aesthetics (tree bark photo) and the artistic quality