Blog Entry #3 - Bourdieu's Cultural Capital

 This concept map above shows how the concept of Cultural Capital works. The concept of Cultural Capital was introduced by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Cultural Capital is defined as the accumulation of skills, knowledge, and other characteristics of a person, which he/she can then utilize to show one's abilities and competence.

As seen in the concept map, the privilege of a person and capital--i.e. the assets a person can tap into in order to enhance his/her own craft further--has a huge factor on what cultural capital a person will have. For example, a person born with a good birthright and social standing--possibly coming from the wealth of his/her parents, or even his/her lineage in general--will surely have an edge when it comes to accumulating skills and enhancing their craft compared to others since they will surely have better access to money and people who may help them to improve. They can also utilize their resources to enroll in advanced classes or workshop that offers different program that will eventually reflect to the capabilities of the said person.

Then, as seen in the concept map, Cultural Capital itself can be divided into three--all of which are still influenced by privilege and capital. The first part of Cultural Capital is Institutionalized Cultural Capital. This includes academic titles (e.g. Engr., LPT, CPA, Atty.), credentials, and certifications of a person, all of which serves as a sort of proof of the skills and capabilities of a person. Of course, those who have better resources and privilege will gain edge in this aspect as well, since these people will have more means to access top of the line private schools to study, different paid seminars or workshops, and even when it comes to preparing for their board exams.

The other two aspects in the concept map is the Objectified Cultural Capital and Embodied Cultural Capital, respectively. The former includes the tangible things such as possessions, properties, gadgets, jewelries, etc. The latter meanwhile, includes the intangibles such as language, knowledge, taste, style, etc. These two aspects in particular plays a huge role when it comes to how diverse the Cultural Capital of each person can be. For example, one person grew up from a wealthy family. Hence, this person will most likely think that expensive brands of clothing, newest gadgets, and high-cost of living is more refined when compared to others. However, the same thing do not apply to those who cannot afford such things. Since these people cannot afford or are enabled to buy such things, they will then find or create new things that they can consider refined or as their own. This difference then becomes the key in the creation of new cultural capital. Unfortunately, the creation of new cultural capital sometimes lead to gatekeeping or thinking that the culture they are at is more superior when compared to others. An example of gatekeeping such cultural capital is when there is a rising band who just recently released a banger of a song, some of their early fanbase would even imply that the band should not become to mainstream as many people may use the song for different purposes.

Certainly, being born in a society where capitalism seems to become the norm is difficult. Despite the talent a person have, one would certainly struggle especially to those who are far wealthier and can access all the things they desire. However, the most important thing in the world is how you can use your own accumulated skills and talents to do something good to the world, hoping that eventually, everyone will have access to different opportunities equally.