How does cultural capital affect educational performance: Signals or skills?
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
How does cultural capital affect educational performance : Signals or skills? / Breinholt, Asta; Jæger, Mads Meier.
In: British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 71, 2020, p. 28–46.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - How does cultural capital affect educational performance
T2 - Signals or skills?
AU - Breinholt, Asta
AU - Jæger, Mads Meier
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - In this paper, we test two mechanisms through which cultural capital might affect educational performance: (a) teachers misinterpreting cultural capital as signals of academic brilliance and (b) cultural capital fostering skills in children that enhance educational performance. We analyse data from the ECLS‐K and ECLS‐K:2011 from the United States and focus on three aspects of children’s cultural capital: participation in performing arts, reading interest and participation in athletics and clubs. We find that (1) none of the three aspects of cultural capital that we consider affects teachers’ evaluations of children’s academic skills; (2) reading interest has a direct positive effect on educational performance; and (3) the direct effect of reading interest on educational performance does not depend on schooling context. Our results provide little support for the hypothesis that cultural capital operates via signals about academic brilliance. Instead, they suggest that cultural capital fosters skills in children that enhance educational performance. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings.
AB - In this paper, we test two mechanisms through which cultural capital might affect educational performance: (a) teachers misinterpreting cultural capital as signals of academic brilliance and (b) cultural capital fostering skills in children that enhance educational performance. We analyse data from the ECLS‐K and ECLS‐K:2011 from the United States and focus on three aspects of children’s cultural capital: participation in performing arts, reading interest and participation in athletics and clubs. We find that (1) none of the three aspects of cultural capital that we consider affects teachers’ evaluations of children’s academic skills; (2) reading interest has a direct positive effect on educational performance; and (3) the direct effect of reading interest on educational performance does not depend on schooling context. Our results provide little support for the hypothesis that cultural capital operates via signals about academic brilliance. Instead, they suggest that cultural capital fosters skills in children that enhance educational performance. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - cultural capital
KW - educational success
KW - teacher bias
KW - schooling context
KW - non-cognitive skills
U2 - 10.1111/1468-4446.12711
DO - 10.1111/1468-4446.12711
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31903604
VL - 71
SP - 28
EP - 46
JO - British Journal of Sociology
JF - British Journal of Sociology
SN - 0007-1315
ER -
ID: 212122556