Bourdieu and Passeron developed the concept of cultural capital in order to examine the impact of culture on the social stratification system and “the relationship between action and social structure” (Lamont & Lareau, 1988, p. Thus, economic capital manifests itself as the root of all other forms of capital which can be understood as disguised forms of economic capital.Ĭultural capital can be explained as a form of capital that is “convertible, in certain conditions, into economic capital and maybe institutionalized in the form of educational qualifications” (Bourdieu, 1986, p.

He understands economic capital as a resource of paramount importance which, on one hand, distinct the agents who play the social game and, on the other hand, is unfairly distributed by being characterized by the law of transmission. He seems to merely offer a materialist interpretation of the notion yet, this fact does not lead to a reductionist approach. However, Bourdieu does not define explicitly the notion of economic capital since he borrows this idea from the field of economics. It consists of capital in Marxian terms, but it also engulfs other economic possessions that increase an agent’s capacities in society.

Economic capital includes every form of material resources such as financial resources and land or property ownership. Depending on the field where it functions, capital can manifest itself in three radical forms: economic, cultural, and social capital.īuilding upon Marxian accounts, Bourdieu perceives the economic capital as purely individual material assets which can be directly and easily convertible into money or maybe institutionalized in the forms of property rights (ibid). Simply put, capital can be understood as a form of fuel which enables agents to reproduce their position within the social field and represents the immanent structure of the social world. He defines capital as “accumulated labor (in its materialized form or its ‘incorporated,’ embodied form) which, when appropriated on a private, i.e., exclusive, basis by agents or groups of agents, enables them to appropriate social energy in the form of reified or living labor” (p.15). Bourdieu, by arguing that the social world is accumulated history, calls for the introduction of the notion of capital so as to highlight the importance of accumulation in the social field.

In his seminal work The Forms of Capital (1986), P. Capital has served as an important empirical and theoretical tool for the exploration of processes of embodiment and accumulation of knowledge and reproduction by agents within the social field. Bourdieu’s notion of “capital”īourdieu’s development of the notion of “capital” has been proven a rich vein for the field of sociology and cultural theory.

Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu