Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality: A Counterfactual Analysis
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Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality : A Counterfactual Analysis. / Jæger, Mads Meier; Karlson, Kristian Bernt.
In: Sociological Science, Vol. 5, 12.2018, p. 775-795.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality
T2 - A Counterfactual Analysis
AU - Jæger, Mads Meier
AU - Karlson, Kristian Bernt
PY - 2018/12
Y1 - 2018/12
N2 - We use NLSY79 data and a counterfactual approach to test the macro-level implications of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility theory. Our counterfactual analyses show that the observed socioeconomic gradient in children’s educational attainment in the NLSY79 data would be smaller if cultural capital was more equally distributed between children whose parents have low or high socioeconomic status (SES), respectively. They also show that hypothetically increasing cultural capital among low-SES parents would lead to a larger reduction in the socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment than reducing it among high-SES parents. These findings are consistent with cultural mobility theory (which argues that low-SES children have a higher return to cultural capital than high-SES children) but not with cultural reproduction theory (which argues that low-SES children have a lower return to cultural capital). Our analysis contributes to existing research by demonstrating that the unequal distribution of cultural capital shapes educational inequality at the macro level.
AB - We use NLSY79 data and a counterfactual approach to test the macro-level implications of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility theory. Our counterfactual analyses show that the observed socioeconomic gradient in children’s educational attainment in the NLSY79 data would be smaller if cultural capital was more equally distributed between children whose parents have low or high socioeconomic status (SES), respectively. They also show that hypothetically increasing cultural capital among low-SES parents would lead to a larger reduction in the socioeconomic gradient in educational attainment than reducing it among high-SES parents. These findings are consistent with cultural mobility theory (which argues that low-SES children have a higher return to cultural capital than high-SES children) but not with cultural reproduction theory (which argues that low-SES children have a lower return to cultural capital). Our analysis contributes to existing research by demonstrating that the unequal distribution of cultural capital shapes educational inequality at the macro level.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - cultural capital
KW - educational inequality
KW - cultural reproduction
KW - cultural mobility
KW - counterfactual analysis
KW - Bourdieu
U2 - 10.15195/v5.a33
DO - 10.15195/v5.a33
M3 - Journal article
VL - 5
SP - 775
EP - 795
JO - Sociological Science
JF - Sociological Science
SN - 2330-6696
ER -
ID: 204153778