Jennybray
BOURDIEU AND EDUCATION: HOW USEFUL IS BOURDIEU'S THEORY FOR RESEARCHERS? ALICE SULLIVAN*
1. Introduction Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction has been highly influential, and has generated a great deal of literature, both theoretical and empirical. This paper will examine the theory and the use empirical researchers in the fields of education and stratification have made of it. Bourdieu's work must be seen in the context both of the debate on class inequalities in educational attainment and of broader questions of class reproduction in advanced capitalist societies. The theory of cultural reproduction is concerned with the link between original class membership and ultimate class membership, and how this link is mediated by the education system. According to Bourdieu, the education systems of industrialised societies function in such a way as to legitimate class inequalities. Success in the education system is facilitated by the possession of cultural capital and of higherclass habitus. Lower-class pupils do not in general possess these traits, so the failure of the majority of these pupils is inevitable. This explains class inequalities in educational attainment. However, success and failure in the education system is seen as being due to individual gifts (or the lack of them). Therefore, for Bourdieu, educational credentials help to reproduce and legitimate social inequalities, as higher-class individuals are seen to deserve their place in the social structure. The first part of this paper will consist of a general discussion of Bourdieu's theory of education, with particular reference to the concepts of cultural capital and habitus. I will argue that the concept of habitus is theoretically incoherent and has no clear use for empirical researchers. The concept of cultural capital, on the other hand, while not constructed particularly clearly by Bourdieu, is substantive enough to be potentially useful to empirical researchers. The sec*
Alice Sullivan
1. Introduction Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction has been highly influential, and has generated a great deal of literature, both theoretical and empirical. This paper will examine the theory and the use empirical researchers in the fields of education and stratification have made of it. Bourdieu's work must be seen in the context both of the debate on class inequalities in educational attainment and of broader questions of class reproduction in advanced capitalist societies. The theory of cultural reproduction is concerned with the link between original class membership and ultimate class membership, and how this link is mediated by the education system. According to Bourdieu, the education systems of industrialised societies function in such a way as to legitimate class inequalities. Success in the education system is facilitated by the possession of cultural capital and of higherclass habitus. Lower-class pupils do not in general possess these traits, so the failure of the majority of these pupils is inevitable. This explains class inequalities in educational attainment. However, success and failure in the education system is seen as being due to individual gifts (or the lack of them). Therefore, for Bourdieu, educational credentials help to reproduce and legitimate social inequalities, as higher-class individuals are seen to deserve their place in the social structure. The first part of this paper will consist of a general discussion of Bourdieu's theory of education, with particular reference to the concepts of cultural capital and habitus. I will argue that the concept of habitus is theoretically incoherent and has no clear use for empirical researchers. The concept of cultural capital, on the other hand, while not constructed particularly clearly by Bourdieu, is substantive enough to be potentially useful to empirical researchers. The sec*
Alice Sullivan