Sport, Social Class, and Cultural Capital: Building on Bourdieu and His Critics

Abstract

IntroductionBourdieu's theory of the dynamics of class/status power in advanced capitalist societies was a major development in sociology in the last third of the 20 th century. His analyses of fields of competition over defining and possessing legitimate culture, rooted in agents' volume, structure, and trajectory of economic and cultural capital have influenced a great deal of research on sport and social inequality. Yet studies of sport and cultural capital often neglect important aspects of Bourdieu's theory and his findings on adult sport participation. In addition, too little has been done on the relationship between sport participation and consuming other forms of high culture.This study sketches some key aspects of Bourdieu's theory of cultural power and links these to the analysis of adult sport participation. It then summarizes Bourdieu's central findings on sport and social class, using this to highlight aspects of his theory neglected by sport analysts and to focus on research that addresses these gaps. I then compare research on U.S. patterns of sport participation between 1965 and 1975 highlighting how these differ from Bourdieu's (1984) 1967-1975 analysis of France. Building on this comparison, amendments to Bourdieu's theory are explored, particularly focusing on omnivore theory and Lamont's (1992, 2000) comparative analyses of aesthetic and moral symbolic boundaries. Bourdieu's Theory of Cultural Capital and Class ReproductionUses of 'cultural capital' and 'capital' have proliferated in the social sciences, often decontextualized from Bourdieu's theory. Thus, it may help to sketch some key aspects of Bourdieu's theory of social domination with underlies much work on sport and cultural capital. A central aim of Bourdieu's theory is laying bare the unjust aspects of "meritocratic" social mechanisms for excluding people in dominated positions from opportunities to exercise social power, with a focus on intergenerational transfers of social power. The dominant classes use their relative monopoly over economic capital; mastery of knowledge, information, manners, and lifestyles which open doors to powerful positions and networks (cultural capital); access to valuable social networks/organizations and social support (social capital); and influence over the means of framing and defining the value of lifestyles, cultural practices, occupations, corporations, and educational credentials (symbolic capital) to maintain and improve agents and their children's positions in fields of competition over these resources. Bourdieu (1990) focused on education systems as a paradigmatic institution for individualizing and rationalizing exclusion of the lower middle and working classes from valued positions and legitimizing the rule of the upper middle and upper classes. Formal education systems in advanced capitalist societies sort children and young adults of all social classes and races, as individuals, under the sign of meritocracy, for possession of arbitrary knowledge and dispositions which are cultivated, often ...

“You’re sitting on a hot soccer field drinking Gatorade…I’m sitting in a yacht club just enjoying the view, enjoying the drinks”: Parental reproduction of social class through school sport sailing

“…Most of the sailors, coaches and parents came to the Californian school sport programme from nearby wealthier suburban areas. Concomitantly, in this section, we endeavour to illustrate how dominant class adults attempted to “foster the primary socialization” of youths through the cultivation of specific attributes and “schemes of appreciation” (Stempel, 2019: 31). According to Stempel (2019: 31), this type of cultivation is meant to assist these youths with obtaining what adults “perceive to be richer and fuller lives” including “access to elite networks and success in a wide range of formal and informal evaluations by gatekeepers from the higher classes”.…”

“…Concomitantly, in this section, we endeavour to illustrate how dominant class adults attempted to “foster the primary socialization” of youths through the cultivation of specific attributes and “schemes of appreciation” (Stempel, 2019: 31). According to Stempel (2019: 31), this type of cultivation is meant to assist these youths with obtaining what adults “perceive to be richer and fuller lives” including “access to elite networks and success in a wide range of formal and informal evaluations by gatekeepers from the higher classes”. We specifically demonstrate how the adults structuring youth sailing activity in California were primarily invested in reproducing youth membership in what we termed earlier as the EDC (Bourdieu, 1978; Stempel, 2019).…”

“…According to Stempel (2019: 31), this type of cultivation is meant to assist these youths with obtaining what adults “perceive to be richer and fuller lives” including “access to elite networks and success in a wide range of formal and informal evaluations by gatekeepers from the higher classes”. We specifically demonstrate how the adults structuring youth sailing activity in California were primarily invested in reproducing youth membership in what we termed earlier as the EDC (Bourdieu, 1978; Stempel, 2019). Indeed, Stempel suggests that this concept of the EDC reflects more capitalistic connotations and aspirations that strongly resonate with neo-liberal conditions in the USA.…”

“…That is, sailing was seen as the perfect avenue for these youths to participate in an elite social field that could help them eventually obtain academic and professional success. This belief system enacted by EDC adults was simultaneously reflected and reinforced in their overt displays of higher wealth and status within the unique yacht club environment (Stempel, 2019). This type of participation implicates the neo-liberal ethos whereby dominant class adults in the USA often feel compelled to take up an individualistic approach to child raising and healthy lifestyle practice that involves the display and pursuit of wealth accumulation to maintain high social status (Lee et al, 2014; Stempel, 2019).…”

“…In this section, we highlight the practices of the CDC that Stempel (2019: 33–34) reminds us frequently adopt an “aristocratic asceticism” and are concerned with “maintaining authenticity”. Accordingly, we suggest that French sailing was mostly conceptualised as a way for youths to engage “in rare practices and venues that involve aestheticised and adventurous play and flow experiences” that are typically more valued amongst the French cultural elite (Stempel, 2019: 34). We first outline coach and PE teacher views of sailing outcomes, followed by data that illustrate parental perspectives of students’ programme involvement.…”