Page 276 - Cultural Theory

Edwards-3516-Ch-13.qxd 5/9/2007 5:57 PM Page 265

••• Cultural Citizenship •••

of cultural competence. These three forms of cultural capital can of course all be
converted into economic capital. In this sense Bourdieu is able to talk of the symbolic
as well as the material profits due to its relative scarcity from which its holders are
able to profit.
In addition to economic and cultural capital we can also talk of social capital.
Social capital depends upon the networks and connections that an individual is able
to maintain. If you like: if economic capital is what you have, cultural capital is what
you know, social capital is whom you know. In this respect, social capital in part
depends upon active forms of sociability that sustain relations of either friendship or
acquaintance. However, despite these different types of capital Bourdieu has consis-
tently maintained that economic capital (in the final analysis) is at the root of the
other forms of capital. That is, the power and privilege that access to different forms
of capital reproduces class distinction. Hence consumption, leisure and lifestyle pat-
terns become important given the extent to which they link into economic, cultural
and social capital.
More recently, Bourdieu and Darbel (1991) have sought to link these concerns to
the cultural capital necessary to visit a museum or art gallery. These institutions were
chosen as they are often (although not always) free at the point of access and empha-
sise a form of cultural self-exclusion. That is, the study concludes, that the best pre-
dictor of whether or not you are likely to attend a formal gallery or exhibition is
family background and educational qualifications. Working-class people who lack
the necessary cultural capital to make works of art meaningful are forced to make
sense of them through more restricted repertoires of interpretation. Working-class
visitors then are ‘condemned to see works of art in their phenomenal state, in other
words as simple objects’ (Bourdieu and Darbel 1991: 45). Those without the appro-
priate cultural capital complained of feeling out of place, were in constant fear of
revealing their lack of knowledge and displayed most interest in art (like furniture)
that had an obvious social function. Educational institutions that only sought to
transmit a limited understanding of artistic works compounded this lack of affinity
with the world of art. Familiarity then with a wide range of artistic and aesthetic
practices was more often transmitted by the bourgeoisie family. For Bourdieu, then,
a cultural democracy (or in our case cultural citizenship) can only be achieved by
educational institutions seeking to make up for the lack of cultural capital available
within the working-class family. Cultural equality for Bourdieu cannot be sought by
either celebrating a working-class populism or by leaving artistic taste to the private
discernment of individuals. Unless educational resources make some attempt to
reverse the flow of cultural capital transmitted in the home then the end result will
be enhanced forms of cultural inequality. Hence populist strategies which either seek
to convert working-class culture into the curriculum or seek to create more opportu-
nities for working-class children to visit gallery’s are unlikely to have much effect.
The question is not so much crude populism, rather the transmission of aesthetic
taste proceeds by habit, learning and exercise. Bourdieu and Darbel (1991) powerfully
argue that the only way to short circuit assumptions of working-class barbarism is to
disrupt the idea that taste is naturally rather than socially reproduced. An inclusive

• 265 •