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?

I agree with Ihatefish. The reasons to do all these things should be because you're curious and interested and because they enhance your life, not to give you "cultural capital" (which is not what the OP thought it was anyway).

To be fair to the OP I don't think she meant it to sound as wanky as it did and she's had a right pasting on here which was probably a bit harsh.

But its an interesting one to unpick: I do all of these activities when I can and as far as time and budget allows, alongside a ton of other less culturally edifying stuff (not as often as I'd like) and I do them because I like them.

For me, if you do this stuff because you like it its a good thing, if you're doing it out of some sense of middle-class keepy-uppy or to help your children flourish at their private school its a completely different ballgame. I appreciate if you haven't had access to these things as a child then the premium on them is higher and I don't hold it against people who want to do it for this reason. But I still find it depressing and nauseating that these things are seen as stealth class signifiers.

It would be nice if the class signifiers could be taken out of this mix so people could enjoy going to the theatre or bingeing on Netflix as totally equivalent passtimes without all this baggage and judgement. Unfortunately, as long as "the arts" is seen as the preserve of the "cultured class" this isn't going to change.

I think we could do ourselves a favour by getting rid of the the phrase "the arts". It has a built-in set of assumptions about what defines "arts" (fine art and photography, opera and classical music, theatre not musicals highbrow literature etc) which is totally linked to class and money and no longer useful in the digital age anyway.

How very Bourdieu

But class signifiers is not the point. These activities do enhance learning outcomes. If you take attitudes out of it, it still makes a difference to exam results. Again it's all class based but children from disadvantaged backgrounds still have to succeed in a system which results in CC being an advantage. Look at any working class kid who makes it academically ( I include myself here) there has been someone or some system that let them access culture etc.

The desperate inverted snobbery of some on this thread is a good explanation of why kids with non mainstream interests get bullied. How very dare they not follow the crowd...

@ShebaShimmyShake

we were kicked out of the Picasso museum because ds kept leaning against the wall.

Just be grateful he didn't scream at the Michelangelo.

I just snorted out coffee reading that!

Hmm this is an odd thread. I read great literature until my DC came along and my concentration was shot - now I read only a couple of books a year. I regularly go to art galleries and have membership at the Tate and Royal Academy. I love cinema and going to historic sites and for long walks.

However I have never done any of these things to build cultural capital or influence my kids. I did them because I love to do them. So I did take my DC to these things too and I'm glad that my DD is now doing Fine Art at university, she loves visiting national trust houses and loves reading too (as I always read to them). My DS - not so much! But my purpose was never to shape or change them or improve their cultural awareness.

Inverted snobbery is like reverse racism- sounds like a neat, cutting little phrase, exposes the user as someone who can't really understand the difference between punching down and punching up.

People who bemoan children's lack of exposure to culture usually mean a lack of exposure to what upper and middle class people in Western nations place value on and totally fail to recognise the rich cultural traditions and practices surrounding the child in their daily lives. So opera is cultural capital but pop music isn't, art galleries are acclaimed but graffiti is decried, ballet is seen as a wonderful artistic expression and street dance as something that people do to get on X Factor, that sort of thing.

We're both from working class backgrounds but always took the kids to the library, museums, gardens, theatre on the rare occasions we could afford it, and read constantly.
DS loved castles and being in Scotland, we have visited lots. On one occasion we were at a castle along with a" performance parenting"mother and two young boys. She was grilling them on their history knowledge while casting smug glances at me. In one hall they starting attacking each other with sticks, play fighting and she asked" ooh are you being King whatnot repelling the invading forces of King doo dah?"
Nah, they replied, we're Ninja Turtles!
I was helpless!!

Readandwalk they do indeed enhance learning outcomes. As can a good BBC documentary (or indeed a good comedy programme) or a encyclopedic love of pop music or knowledge of musicals.

Of course its harder for MC children to access "the arts" in the traditional sense of the word than it is for them to access pop culture and its important to enable access so it doesn't become the sole preserve of those who have been introduced to it by their own parents.

But if you ringfence this as "cultural capital" you perpetuate the segregation between "high" and "low" culture and the idea that art which is hard to access, expensive or "difficult" automatically has a higher intrinsic value than that which the ordinary people can access. You remove people's critical faculties to judge things on their intrinsic merit and create a deadening sense that the only point of these pursuits is your own social aspiration.

Much better to teach all culture to children "high" and "low" and teach critical faculties that enable them to distinguish quality based on its merits as opposed to its ability to smooth their social advancement.

I once read that it never really works to take up an interest just because you think it will be good for the children.
It's much better to share the things that genuinely interest you.
So in that spirit....
I watch Disney Movies with DD.
I geek out to history yotubers with DS.
We also read history books together. We talk about history and politcs and philosophy.
Sometimes we draw maps of different historical empires and label them.
They used to do ballet class and Beavers but thats all still closed down for the covids.
They both get dragged along to tenants union stuff where they learn the behaviour expected in meetings, that collective action makes you powerful and that not everything is about them.
Sometimes I try to share my taste in music with them. That always goes badly about as well as you'd expect it to.
Tbh after 6 months trapped in the house with my politics and my views on current events and my interests and my boring music they've probably had about as much of my cultural capital as they can take.
It's a good job they're getting some outside influences at last before they get too weird.

@unlimiteddilutingjuice

I once read that it never really works to take up an interest just because you think it will be good for the children. It's much better to share the things that genuinely interest you. So in that spirit.... I watch Disney Movies with DD. I geek out to history yotubers with DS. We also read history books together. We talk about history and politcs and philosophy. Sometimes we draw maps of different historical empires and label them. They used to do ballet class and Beavers but thats all still closed down for the covids. They both get dragged along to tenants union stuff where they learn the behaviour expected in meetings, that collective action makes you powerful and that not everything is about them. Sometimes I try to share my taste in music with them. That always goes badly about as well as you'd expect it to. Tbh after 6 months trapped in the house with my politics and my views on current events and my interests and my boring music they've probably had about as much of my cultural capital as they can take. It's a good job they're getting some outside influences at last before they get too weird.

I do similar. One strong memory I have of my mother was the fact she was always busy and never just sat with us. I now make a point of being with my kids when they ask me to and I also do my best (pre covid) to nurture their interests and take them places they genuinely want to go. Not just because I decide it would be good for them.

This thread has proper made me lol

I’ve just had a very quick glance over a summary of the sociological definition and the ofsted guidance. Well that’s a bit scary!

Going off my own experience of convent primary school, very rough state school where more people ended up in prison than university, to a Russell Group university and into a high earning profession, I’m in two minds about how much cultural capital many of the things mentioned in this thread actually carry.

I think the getting ahead In professional environments relies more on the sort of self believing confidence that public/private education seems to breed than any particular pursuit (except maybe golf and cycling). Being able to recite Shakespeare or confidently navigate a black run is not really something that comes up that often in either interview or office life (Although if you do throw in the odd mention it does seem to assure people you aren’t thick). It’s this cultural capital of confidence (often very fucking misplaced tbh) in oneself that I think is the thickest line between those who have the “right” credentials . Expecting success as of right. Also a different view of priorities, affairs are ok, family don’t come first, money is king, acceptance of even unfair hierarchies and adherence to a system are all things that mark out the upper middle classes (All this passes the really posh people by) in the work place. A working class sense of smash the system, prioritisation of family and need for fairness flies in the face of what is seen as “the right sort”. It’s not necessarily accessing the professions but progression within them where the rewardable attributes reflect the attitudes more Prevalent in the upper middle classes. Business likes stability, private public schools encourage continuity of certain traditions.

But whatever cultural capital is, using schools to try and teach children how to behave In professional environment and also what to be interested in to progress into certain types of roles is frightening. It says that only certain types of jobs are worthwhile. It says certain (often unpleasant) attitudes are desirable for all. Much more it preserves the status quo. The curriculum should be about developing a child to fulfil their individual potential not how to become a clone of quite often unpleasant people. Plenty of time to learn pathetic upper middle class games once you’re walking amongst them.

The U.K. has poor social mobility I think partly because of the school system. I think it’s absolutely right that the education system is used as a leveller like it is in many other countries. Some children are just not taught at home what is a natural part of MC children’s lives. Of course you are not going to be asked questions on opera in a job interview, but you don’t want to look blank when someone makes a reference to La Boheme and like you have never heard it either. Just an example.

And all jobs are worthwhile but let’s get real some jobs are more interesting and pays waaaaay more than others and the opportunity to get into those jobs should be there for everyone.

Justanotherneighinparadise
That's very sweet. It's so important to them just to enjoy our company.

@sapnupuas

My four year old asked me if I was willing to give classical music a go because he likes it.

Does that count?

I'd have bought him Cd's & top quality headphones. Love them as I do, I'm still not listening to classical music - I'd rather stick bamboo shoots down my nails!

@MrsMcMuffins but a state school is never going to give a kid from
A tower block the same sort of inbuilt confidence a public school will or the entitled attitude. It’s difficult to know what the answer is but I don’t think teaching kids from the estate about opera is going to help social mobility. This might have been the case a couple of decades ago where you could while away some boring dinner (If women were allowed) talking about Shakespeare to your Etonian boss. Nowadays it’s about (im)moral values and priorities. I’ve had quite a few occasions where I’ve been the one met with blank looks
When mentioning the Romantics or classical mythology etc.

I also think we need to stop
Kids thinking that it is desirable to go after a job just because it pays waaay more. We would be better placed teaching them what value things have rather than the monetary cost

@speakout

I would question how important "culture" is when compared to many other topics.

Basic atomic theory? Electromagnetic spectrum? Biodiversity?
I would suggest these are at least as essential as "culture" for children.

Culture in this sense doesn’t just mean “the fine arts”.

It absolutely embraces science, history, religion, music, language etc. etc. But also areas like manners and customs.

So not just how to go to a museum but how to use a bus or an Uber or how to order in a restaurant.

Some of this you might call general knowledge, but it’s more like general experience. The cinema example above is a good one. (In our society, I would suggest that how to drive car increases your cultural capital too, but that causes arguments on Mumsnet...)

I think that good cultural capital is built by having a decent general knowledge and appreciation for art and science that you share with your kids in an organic way... you can’t just teach someone “cultural capital”, that’s not how it works (and as a teacher I have heard much chat in recent years about how to embed it in schemes of work and the like). That’s what my parents always did and I know that I have good “cultural capital” and visits to museums, galleries, theatres etc supported what they already talked about with us in our daily lives. My husband, on the other hand, has very poor cultural capital despite his parents taking him to museums and stuff and I think a lot of that is because it wasn’t backed up in everyday life: his mum and dad didn’t talk to him about “cultural” things and they would never, for example, watch a documentary together.

@Ihatefish, it’s not just about teaching children about opera. Lots of people don’t like opera. There is a different though I think between thinking or saying that you don’t like opera (or even hate it as many do) to thinking its wanky and not for “people like you” or feeling that you don’t belong in a opera house. Most operas have storylines no more complex than the average episode of Eastenders if you think about it, but it’s a bit less accessible. Opera is probably a bad example as it’s such an acquired taste and a bit marmite for most people.
I also think it’s fine to teach children that high paying jobs don’t always have the most value, but that’s only fine if there are choices and opportunities for all.

Watched Mythbusters (science) and Horrible Histories (History) when DS was younger. Took him to history and science museums. Borrowed books from the local library. Warhammer and Magic the Gathering are cultural right?

The Simpsons is actually great for cultural capital too!

Our family is very lucky because we foster and therefore are exposed to so much new culture all the time, be it native languages, customs and food, mixed slush puppies, chip shop curry sauce on fish, different hobbies, ethics and emotions. Culture is so much more than a narrow range of elite activities.