Cultural Capital - what do you do in your household?

[californiagurl]

We have a huge range of books, frequent theatre visits (although these have been online in recent times), visits to art galleries/exhibitions, support with learning languages.

What's anyone else up to?

fishy I my opinion a career in the arts isn’t hugely helped by cultural capital as much as actual capital.
It takes such a long time to make money and is legendarily precarious that most successful people have been supported for a long time (by parents or partners).

@fishywaters - i agree that i also like the british obsession with property - however as an academic living in a rental flat with kids in zone1 - i can assure you that in comparison with the lawyers my kids will not do as well.

Cultural capital is not about culture - it is used to describe one of the ways in which elites prevent others from joining their club. In the 1960s France (and today in some ways) - this was through economic but also 'cultural' power. And to some extent, this is still the case in Europe - but then most of Europe has not destroyed their middle classes in the same way as the UK/US has.

However, in the UK - the elites are now largely preventing others from entering their class through property ownership/cash - e.g. pay for childcare, pay for hobbies, pay for property, pay for uni, pay for internship, pay for social care etc.....all these things are free in Europe. But in the UK - the mc need to pay and basically cant afford it and have therefore been pushed out.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/squeezed-middle-class-financial-survivalism; www.ft.com/content/13fe209e-707f-11e8-852d-d8b934ff5ffa;

dont line the british obsession

therefore to some extent culture and capital have been decoupled i.e. capital doesnt have to connect with culture and culture doesnt give you capital.

it is very telling the different ways in which the German government has directed their funding during covid v the British govt - this points to the 'value' that the elites place on culture i.e. something that used to be their preserve. It is supported in one context and to some extent cast adrift in the other i.e. the British elites no longer need culture in order to stop others from entering their ranks - just cash

so when schools insist or try to push cultural capital as an idea they are fighting the last battle......i am all for culture etc (i mean thats literally my job), it just that it no longer gives you capital. So perhaps ensuring that all kids have laptops/tutors etc is more useful if the idea is to enable them to go far in life

I walked round the National gallery. It took me five minutes, I would have done it quicker.....but the floor was slippy.

As far as I understand it the current British elite are MPs, CEOs and bankers (some might add in a few top lawyers and newspaper editors). The landed gentry with their grouse shooting are no longer on many people’s radar unless they are co-currently in the former group. I happen to know quite a few bankers and CEOs and at least as regards recruitment, many specifically look for young people who stand out on their own merit rather than the Surrey types who went to x school. Young people who are in the latter category can of course make the cut but basically when society does become more about making money (aka more American dream) then arguably kids who are streetwise and self starters might actually stand more of a chance joining those ranks. I fully agree with all kids should have access to tech and broadband, without a doubt. If every child was given 200 pounds twelve odd years ago to start a trust fund then some at least be given a laptop. In addition there is so much waste of computers in large businesses as a result of upgrades I do wonder why more of these computers do not end up in schools.

@fishywaters - when i say the rentier class - i do not literally mean the gentry i.e those with a title. however, it makes a very big difference whether kids' parents own their own home and even more importantly own a couple of houses in improving their chances of success i.e. when it comes to get into a good uni and staying there, ability take an internship etc. In theory, most 'good jobs' require kids to have gone to a good uni etc - and that is increasingly the preserve of the rich.

The idea that poor but smart kids can make it has been debunked even in the US. I mean obviously back in the day if you were a wizz at maths etc....but even then if you dig into these stories most of the time these were still the kids that had access to computers in the early 80s (v unusual for the time) etc....

As a frontliner I'm at work. All. The. Time.

In saying that I'm surrounded by people from every corner of the world and we discuss everything from world politics, to regional food to plays/musicals/Netflix and today it was GBBO and why we think the lighthouse teapot was an underrated masterpiece.

I'm also learning to say thank you in as many languages as possible as I think this is the quickest way to learn a language and thank you is the most important phrase.

My life is very culturally rich despite a lack of travelling/museums/theatre.

I'm happy but then I was informed I've been promoted so go me!

I’m struggling genuinely with understanding what cultural capital is ???

Have you read the thread, nannykatherine? Several wonderfully articulate explanations ...

Goodness there's a lot of spiteful posts on here! Whats wrong with encouraging and exposing your DC to a wide range of art/events/music/travel/experiences? I don't understand all of the inverted snobbery?

@Bettyboolampshade - there is nothing wrong with culture. it's just not really cultural capital

Well. Personally I hate reading, always have. Perfectly well educated, degree etc, but history, English, bores me shitless.

Our whole media landscape is viewed as though everyone approaches things from a literary side.

Me, I prefer science. No panic about screen time in our house.

I hate sports too.

DD is different to me, and that's fine.

@nannykatherine - cultural capital is when elites use culture as a marker/way of keeping the poor out of their ranks. it is the idea that culture is a currency that buys you entry into the middle classes.

I don’t think that’s what the OP meant by it though? I thought she was using the word capital to mean a kind of investment into the children’s futures, in terms of their knowledge and interests, not as a comment on class.

@Karwomannghia

I don’t think that’s what the OP meant by it though? I thought she was using the word capital to mean a kind of investment into the children’s futures, in terms of their knowledge and interests, not as a comment on class.

Exactly! Say the DC learn a small amount of Italian, family has a trip to Italy, kids can utilise their skills. It's a lifelong skill that they can use into adulthood. Just an example.

if you look both at what the OP has listed and the way in which people have responded on this thread - and critically analyze it - that is how it was meant and has been interpreted by PPs.

it's not about learning skills or about culture but about the rights skills and the correct culture and what are they 'right' for?

So in other words you are talking about incidental learning.

@Zurich09 I agree with your definition not the definition I copied and also know from doing Sociology in one of my degrees.

I have nephews and nieces in their 20s who were educated in state, private or a mixture of those schools. The ones who are doing better have parents who have housing in London where they can stay for free regardless of what schooling they had, as this means they could take up internships/do postgraduate qualifications without paying for accommodation. Also, the ones who are doing better economically have been taken under the wing by different extended family members, who are younger than their parents, who point them in particular directions with an explanation of why something matters.

Their interests as children were diverse but the things that were especially important were different aged extended family members talking, listening and arguing with them.

Some of my family, who are their parents, work/worked in paediatrics and under the last Labour government were doing a lot around child development including Surestart centres. I read some of the material they had including the stuff they were giving to parents and thought that is surely commonsense. I only realised when watching working-class neighbours enact this behaviour without being prompted/taught what to do that was in the child development stuff I read that the difference now isn't what you teach your children but whether you can afford to subsidise them when they are young adults.

This is because some of my nephews/nieces have grandparents from very working-class backgrounds who managed to climb the social ladder. They learnt particular mannerisms and/got particular interests to so they could marry their higher social class spouse.

Dinotrux on Netflix, Simpsons on disney, we all speak different languages, although generally the baby speaks gobbledegook better than us all.
We debate which is best; marvel or dc (def marvel, unless aquaman is added to the party).i studied classics at uni, dp studied physics and art. We don't consider ourselves cultured, more geeky

Chicken shit accidentally flipped into my eye today - is that cultural capital enough!

Kids have library membership and we go at least every other weekend.
Museum visits fairly often, holidays where amongst their beach time there is something cultural or different to see.

@Bettyboolampshade

Goodness there's a lot of spiteful posts on here! Whats wrong with encouraging and exposing your DC to a wide range of art/events/music/travel/experiences? I don't understand all of the inverted snobbery?

I think that many (including me) are interpreting the OP as doing these activities not because they are educational or enjoyable things to do, but because the act of having done them will give them a leg up in society. It's not so much inverted snobbery as taking the piss!

Culture capital is not just about the arts, it,s about opportunities. Access to open spaces, knowledge of the world outside their home/area. That doesn,t mean providing holdays it means becoming aware of what goes on in the world around us.