Introduction to sociology Sociological thinking about life courses College of Sociology, Rikkyo University Tokyo, Japan April-May, 2016 Henk Vinken, PhD Isabelle Diepstraten, PhD Class 5 April 26, 2016

Family culture This class Isabelle and I will present key issues related to the concept of family culture After this class you will reflect on your life story from the perspective of family cultures and add more lines on it to your paper and bring it to next class (see last slides) Class 5 April 26, 2016

Family culture But first cultural-capital Class 5 April 26, 2016

Family cultures: the basics Focus on the role of cultural (besides social and economic capital transferred and attained by members in the family Cultural capital refers to the family’s skills and attitude to gain access to resources that express one’s cultivation: visible in the language you speak, manners, your sense of taste in food, clothing, interior design, car brands, etc., your lifestyle. Cultural capital tells you (and the others around) where you are from, from a highly or less highly cultured family background Cultural capital is the desired capital by the cultural elite in a society: what is highly valued and what not is determined by elites Class 5 April 26, 2016

Different forms of capital Cultural capital: having the skills and attitude to gain access to the what is regarded ‘cultured’ Social capital: having the skills and attitude to gain access to a lot and the right sort of friends, e.g. friends that can help you out in differtent domains in life (job, legal, medical, other influential networks) -> later class on soccial networks Economic capital: having the skills and attitude to gain income, to yield assets Symbolic capital: the different forms of capital become observable in someone’s lifestyle: visible taste markers Class 5 April 26, 2016

The V-shaped relationship of cultural and economic capital Class 5 April 26, 2016 Little cultural, Little economic capital Low status: Aimed at what is functional Not per se what is ‘right’ No imitation of ‘right’ taste High cultural capital High status & Progressive High economic capital High status & Conservative ← nadruk op cultureel kapitaal nadruk op economisch kapitaal → ! Social capital: enables you to increase economic and cultural capital And transfer the one in the other sum of cultural and economic capital ← low high → Middle class: identity seekers trying to do the ‘right’ thing/imitate high class Source: Bourdieu (1979) Distinction

Talking about (effects of) cultural capital Add the answers to the below questions to your paper Life trajectories and life orientations depend on past and present networks and the capital of these networks Parental cultural capital is the key predictor of kid’s school succes: kids with low cultural capital background take much longer to go through/rise in the educational system When you were 12 years old What was the education level and profession of your parents? What cultural possessions (books, art, etc.) did they have? What kind of cultural activities did they participation in? How would you describe their lifestyle/taste? And to all questions above: where do you stand now, are you very different? Class 5 April 26, 2016

Talking about (effects of) cultural capital Low levels of mixing between people with different cultural capital Do your parents have friends from very different cultural capital levels? Do you? What did a ‘normal’ weekend look like when you were 12 yearsof age? What kind of things did you do and with whom? What did you eat? What did you talk about? Which ‘life sayings’ were you taught? Class 5 April 26, 2016