Types of Cultural Capital

If you need a short, relatively simple, student-friendly outline / overview of cultural capital this should fit the bill.

Written by Nikki Cole, the article is useful because it breaks the concept down into three easy-to-understand component types:

Embodied involves thinking about the cultural capital individuals acquire simply though living – their socialisation, education, experiences and the like. This form of capital is, of course, embedded within the individual (hence the use of the embodied descriptor).

Objectified forms of cultural capital are those embodied in the objects we own and use – from the house in which in live, to the objects we own and even the things, like food, we consume.

Institutionalised forms involve things like educational achievements and qualifications. These can be seen as symbolic forms of cultural capital whose value, to both individuals and institutions, is that they are validated through some form of institutional measurement and certification.

Update

I’ve now added a simple 3-slide PowerPoint Presentation that gives you the opportunity to display the three types of cultural capital outlined in the article for whole-class teaching.

The Presentation allows you to display a short piece of illustrative text for each type in turn (or more-or-less simultaneously if you prefer. The choice is yours) at the click of a button.

You can, of course, add your own text to the Presentation if you don’t like what’s there…