According to Pierre Bourdieu there are four forms of capital: economic, social, cultural and symbolic Usually, when we talk about capital we mean economic capital Usually, when we talk about capital we mean economic capital, which consists of the money you have and the things you can easily turn into money, like property, cars and jewelry Time is also part of your economic capital, because you can turn it into money by working Time is also part of your economic capital, because you can turn it into money by working Social capital consists of the resources you have due to
belonging to different groups And it depends on the number of connections you have and on the amount of capital those people have And it depends on the number of connections you have and on the amount of capital those people have If you are Bill's best friend, you will have more capital than if you befriend 40 Joses There are three forms of cultural capital: incorporated, objectivated and institutionalized There are three forms of cultural capital: incorporated, objectivated and institutionalized Incorporated cultural capital is the capital you have inside of you, which on the one side means all the
knowledge and the abilities you have and on the other, your emotional intelligence and your values Objectivated cultural capital consists of the culturally valuable things you own, for example books, musical instruments and works of art In order to get an advantage from owning those objects, you need incorporated cultural capital Since it's useless to own a library and a guitar if you don't know how to read or play the guitar Since it's useless to own a library and a guitar if you don't know how to read or play the guitar The third form is institutionalized cultural capital
which, as the name suggests, you get from institutions for example in the way of diplomas and certificates from schools and universities In theory, diplomas reflect the things you learned, meaning the incorporated cultural capital you gained In theory, diplomas reflect the things you learned, meaning the incorporated cultural capital you gained An example of people with a lot of cultural capital are academics, since they have a low of knowledge, books and diplomas Lastly, symbolic capital is the prestige you have in society so the recognition, fame and trust that other people give you Usually, the more economic, social
and cultural capital you have the more symbolic capital you receive For example, millionaires, academics and the friends of Bill have got a lot of symbolic capital In order to gain symbolic capital you can use your cultural or economic capital for example by founding a library with your name on it or by donating money to charity Parents give economic and cultural capital to their offspring through their inheritance, their upbringing, through cultural objects and through financing their studies through their inheritance, their upbringing, through cultural objects and through financing their studies This facts helps to understand social inequality
a bit better which is not only dependant on how much money you have Someone whose parents were always supportive who had enough time to learn the things that interested him and to build friendships and who can go to college without worrying about money until they are 25 years old has got much better odds of getting more capital in the future than someone who always had to deal with stress at home and who had to work as soon as they left school It doesn't matter if both of them have got the same amount of money when
they turn 25 because the first one has got a lot more cultural and social capital that he can use for the rest of his life The whole idea of investing in yourself is precisely converting economic capital into other forms of capital The most common example of this is investing money and time to go to college In college you gain knowledge, get a diploma and you make friends And only once you have accumulated social and cultural capital you focus on accumulating economic capital
