A Theory of Racialized Cultural Capital

Abstract

Bourdieu developed cultural capital theory to explain the upper class’ exclusive cultivation of skills, knowledge, and dispositions (i.e., cultural capital) that yield institutional advantages. Fundamental to this conceptualization is the idea that cultural capital itself is classed—not racialized—and that what constitutes cultural capital is broadly the same for every individual irrespective of one’s racial position. I draw from the sociology of race to develop a reconceptualization of cultural capital as fundamentally racialized. Using the illustrative case of “Pursuit”—a white‐led organization created in the 1960s to select nonwhite children for integrating white schools—I then theorize about the racial dimensions of cultural capital. I find evidence that Pursuit selected for nonwhite students deemed nonthreatening to the dominant racial group. Thus, I maintain that qualities associated with appearing nonthreatening function as cultural capital for nonwhite students in this field. Accordingly, I theorize that (1) what constitutes cultural capital may vary by the racial position of the holder of cultural capital and (2) those who are dominant in the racial hierarchy contribute to determining what constitutes cultural capital for those they dominate according to their own interests. As it is taken for granted that cultural capital is fundamentally classed, it should be equally understood and applied that cultural capital is fundamentally racialized.

Race, Cultural Capital, and School Achievement in Race-Blind France

“…Race may exacerbate sports’ dissonant relationship with school achievement in other ways. It may further reduce educational returns for minorities through racialized stereotyping of athletes as less capable academically (James 2012) or naturally more gifted athletically (Azzarito and Harrison 2008); such controlling images could lead to contradictory forms of physicality working as capital for different students (Cartwright 2022). Finally, tension between sports and academics may translate into lower educational returns for groups who rely most on sports-as-capital.…”

“…Furthermore, considering cultural capital as relational with race and not universal (Cartwright 2022) helps us understand race-specific patterns. Indeed, the fact that minorities invest in certain traditionally high-SES practices (perhaps for aspirational reasons) does not necessarily contradict notions of racialized cultural capital.…”

“…When particular resources function as cultural capital for the majority population more so than for non-White populations, it is one indication that cultural capital is racialized. Beyond class-based approaches that view race as a moderating factor, Cartwright (2022) theorizes racialized cultural capital as different sets of characteristics being valued relationally with race. Here, practices associated with higher-SES groups could work as cultural capital among the majority—no matter the higher scores displayed by minority groups, who might be rewarded for different practices.…”

“…Indeed, Richards emphasizes the nature of cultural capital as relational with race and the necessity to operationalize it as racialized. Finally, I turn to Cartwright’s (2022) recent proposition in theorizing racialized cultural capital. Beyond conceptions of cultural capital as practices valued for high-SES and White people and nondominant cultural capital as valued resources in minority contexts, she adds that what functions as cultural capital might vary across groups.…”

“…Adeyemo (2022) theorizes specific forms of capital leveraged through sports by Black students (e.g., aspirational capital), inspired by Yosso's (2005) ''community cultural wealth'' and consistent with the ''nondominant'' and ''Black cultural capital'' strand of research. Cartwright's (2022) recent reformulation draws attention to sports as racialized cultural capital in the sense that racial stereotypes may drive differential rewards in White institutions. Cartwright's study identifies physicality as a case of racialized cultural (or bodily) capitalwith standards favoring tall and ''manly'' stature not applying to non-White boys, who were instead rewarded for physical smallness.…”