Definition(s):

“Modes of thinking.” (Edwards)
“Argues that middle-class parents endow their children with a cultural capital of various linguistic and cultural competences. Schools require these competences (whose content is controlled by the rich) for educational success, yet fail to teach them.” (Marshall, 2003)
“Cultural capital can exist in three forms: in the embodied state, i.e. in the form of long-lasting dispositions of the mind and body; in the objectified state, in the form of cultural goods (pictures, books, dictionaries, instruments, machines, etc.), which are the trace or realization of theories or critiques of these theories, problematics, etc.; and in the institutionalized state, a form of objectification which must be set apart because, as will be seen in the case of educational qualifications, it confers entirely original properties on the cultural capital which it is presumed to guarantee.” (Bourdieu, 1985)

Edwards, R. (2002, October 18). Social Capital, A Sloan Work and Family Encyclopedia Entry. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College. Cultural capital. (2003). In Gordon Marshall (Ed.), A dictionary of sociology in politics and social sciences. UK Oxford University Press Inc. Internet Explorer. www.oxfordreference.com (16 June 2003). Bourdieu, P. (1985). The forms of capital. In J.G. Richardson (Ed.). Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood.