Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality: A Counterfactual Analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality

T2 - A Counterfactual Analysis

AU - Jæger, Mads Meier

AU - Karlson, Kristian Bernt

PY - 2018/12

Y1 - 2018/12

N2 - We use NLSY79 data and a counterfactual approach to test the macro-level implications of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility theory. Our counterfactual analyses show that the observed socioeconomic gradient in children’s educational attainment in the NLSY79 data would be smaller if cultural capital was more equally distributed between children whose parents have low or high socioeconomic status (SES), respectively. They also show that hypothetically increasing cultural capital among low-SES parents would lead to a larger reduction in the socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment than reducing it among high-SES parents. These findings are consistent with cultural mobility theory (which argues that low-SES children have a higher return to cultural capital than high-SES children) but not with cultural reproduction theory (which argues that low-SES children have a lower return to cultural capital). Our analysis contributes to existing research by demonstrating that the unequal distribution of cultural capital shapes educational inequality at the macro level.

AB - We use NLSY79 data and a counterfactual approach to test the macro-level implications of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility theory. Our counterfactual analyses show that the observed socioeconomic gradient in children’s educational attainment in the NLSY79 data would be smaller if cultural capital was more equally distributed between children whose parents have low or high socioeconomic status (SES), respectively. They also show that hypothetically increasing cultural capital among low-SES parents would lead to a larger reduction in the socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment than reducing it among high-SES parents. These findings are consistent with cultural mobility theory (which argues that low-SES children have a higher return to cultural capital than high-SES children) but not with cultural reproduction theory (which argues that low-SES children have a lower return to cultural capital). Our analysis contributes to existing research by demonstrating that the unequal distribution of cultural capital shapes educational inequality at the macro level.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - cultural capital

KW - educational inequality

KW - cultural reproduction

KW - cultural mobility

KW - counterfactual analysis

KW - Bourdieu

U2 - 10.15195/v5.a33

DO - 10.15195/v5.a33

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2330-6696

VL - 5

SP - 775

EP - 795

JO - Sociological Science

JF - Sociological Science

ER -