dimaggio mohr cultural capital educational attainment and marital selection
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Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital SelectionAuthor(s): Paul DiMaggio and John MohrSource: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 90, No. 6 (May, 1985), pp. 1231-1261Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2779635Accessed: 21-07-2015 16:02 UTC
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Cultural
Capital,
Educational
Attainment,
and Marital Selection1
Paul
DiMaggio and John
Mohr
Yale University
Although
Weberdistinguished
harply etween
class" an individ-
ual's
marketposition)
nd "status"
participation
n
a collectivity
bound together y a shared statusculture), nlymeasuresofthe
former ave
been
ncluded
n
most mpirical
nalyses f
the
tratifi-
cation
process.
n
this rticle
measure f status-culturearticipa-
tion
or cultural
apital)
s
developed
from heresponses f
menand
women
nterviewed
n
1960 byProjectTalent.
Questions apped
a
range
fhigh-cultural
nterestsndactivities.
nalyses fdata
from
a
follow-up tudy
11
years
ater howsignificantffects
f cultural
capital
with appropriate ontrols)
n educational ttainment,
ol-
lege
attendance,
college completion,graduate
attendance,
and
marital election orboth
men
and
women.
A
vital element
nWeber'sclassic theory
f social stratification
as been
omitted
n
most
contemporarytudiesof
the
stratification
rocess.
Al-
though
researchershave shown ingenuity
n
developing
measuresof
"class"
or
"market
osition,"
ew
have addressed
he problem f
howto
measure
participation
n
prestigious
tatus culturesdirectly.
nstead,
most
have
attempted o
capture status" hrough
measures f such
posi-
tionalor
demographic
ttributes
s
occupational
ank,gender, ocioeco-
1
Thispaper has
benefitedmmenselyrom
areful nd critical eadings yRandall
Collins,
Herbert
ans,Jerome arabel,
David
Karen,
Richard
Murnane,
ichardA.
Peterson, obert
obinson, eithRoe, Ann widler,MichaelUseem, nd three
non-
ymous eviewers,
hegood dviceofnone f
whomwas followedo scrupulouslys to
renderhem
ulpablefor ny remaining
nadequacies.An earlier raft f thispaper
was presentedt
the nnualmeetingf heAmerican ociological ssociation
Section
on
Education, ession
n
Social Class and Higher ducation; erome arabel,
hair),
Detroit,August
1983. We gratefully
cknowledge omputerupport rom heYale
University
ociology epartment
nd
Institutionor
Social
and
Policy tudies nd
institutionalssistance rom heYale Programn Non-Profitrganizationsnd the
Center
or
Advanced
tudy
n
the
Behavioral ciences.
We
are
ndebted
o
Marilyn
Mandell,
Barbara Ruber, nd Leslie Lindzey or xpert ssistancen
preparinghis
manuscriptor
publication. equests or
eprintshouldbe sent o Paul DiMaggio,
DepartmentfSociology, ale University, ew
Haven, Connecticut6520.
C
1985by
The
University
f
Chicago.
All
rights
eserved.
0002-9602/85/9006-0005$01
50
AJS
Volume
90
Number
6
1231
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AmericanJournal
f
Sociology
nomic status,or educational
attainment
often reated
s a
proxy
for
human capital
or labormarket osition Parkin
1978]).
If
Weber's concept
of statusculturewere reducible o such measures
(i.e., if
status-culture
embership eretightly oupled to status
groups
formed n the basis of
economic
market
osition),
uch failure o
distin-
guish
between
class" and "status"would
have
few
onsequences.
o the
extent
hatthe two areonly
oosely ssociated,
however,
t
s
essential o
distinguish hemboth
analytically
nd
operationally.2
Several recent studies
suggest
the
inability
f conventionaldemo-
graphic nd
positionalmeasures o capture
onsequential
spects
of
cul-
turalvariation.Jencks t al. (1979) found trong ffects ffamily ack-
ground n
educational nd
occupational ttainmenthatwere
nottapped
by a wide range
ofconventionalmeasures f
family
status."
DiMaggio
(1982a)
discovered only modest
correlationsbetween
fathers' and
mothers'
ducational ttainmentsnd the
"cultural apital" of
a
national
sample
of
whitehigh school
students,
articularlymong theboys,but
found
significant
ffects f
cultural
capital
on
grades.
Peterson
1983)
reports ow
correlations etweendemographic
measures nd patterns f
cultural
participation
nd
stylesof life. Howell
and McBroom (1982)
report ubstantial ffects f measures of family ultureon the school
performancef
elementarytudents utweak
relationships etween osi-
tional
measuresof
family
ackground nd
child-rearingeliefs nd
at-
titudes.
Davis,
in
an
article on
"class cultures," inds o few
notable
associations f
positional ariableswith
broad
range
fattitudes hathe
concludes
hat new
theories, erhapsmore
ultural han
tructural, ay
be
in
order"
o
explain ome
aspectsof
the
stratificationystem
1982, p.
585).
We believe that
what
is
needed is a
return o Weber's
early nsight
about thedistinction etween heclass market osition)ndstatus rders
([1922] 1968, pp. 926-40). A
person's class position, s he
defines t,
consistsof causal
factors
nfluencing
he
individual's ife chances
in
a
market
conomy.
A
class "does
not
n
itself onstitute group"
p. 930).
Class
position
s
impersonal:
the
market
nd
its
processesknows no
personaldistinctions"
p. 936).
In
contrast,Weber viewed
status
as
in-
2
We use
the erm
class"
only
n
the
Weberian
ense.Marxist
efinitionsf
class are
varied ndmanifold.n generalandwithno ittle versimplification),arx's class-
in-itself's
similar o
"class"
nWeber's
ense albeit
with
strong
mphasis n
abor
market
ositions
opposed o
position
nother
markets),
hereas
class-for-itself'
s a
Weberian
abor
market lassthat
s
also
a
status
roup.
imilarly,uruse
of
he erm
"status"
ollows rom
althought
develops
n)thatof
Weber.The
relationshipe-
tween
his
onceptionf
tatus
nd theuse of
he
erm n
social
nthropology
Warner
and
Lunt
1942,p. 3, n.
1) and
structural
ociology
Burt1982) s
similarlyeyond he
scope
of
this
paper.
1232
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Cultural
Capital
separablefrom he
ndividual's
participation
n
a
human
group
nd
the
culture f that
group,
the
"style
f
ife"
that s
"expected
rom ll
those
who wishto
belong
o the circle"
p. 932).
Status
s seen as an
emergent
quality
grounded
n
inte-action:
s "an effectivelaim to social
esteem"
(pp.
304-6), implying oth
a claimant nd a claimee
who,
at leastfor-
mally,maytreat he
claim
as illegitimate. he
status
ulture
s
the
means
by
which he tatus
group
maintains
ts
cohesion nd
preserves
ts
ability
to
distance tself rom ther
roups
n
society.
The decisive ole
of
style
of ife
n
status
honormeans
that tatus
groups re the
pecific
earers f
all
conventions"
pp. 935-36).
We takeWeber'semphasison the nteractionalnd culturalbases of
status
seriously.
Using a measure
developed
byDiMaggio
(1982a),
we
show that
nterest
n
and
experiencewith
prestigious ultural
esources
(which,
following
ourdieu,we call
"cultural
apital")
n
high
choolhas
a
significantlyositive
mpact
on
many
aspects
of
the
educational nd
marital
ttainment
f
a
cross-sectional
ample
of white
Americanmen
and
women
11
years
ater.
Our
focus s
on
the
mpact f
status-culture
articipationn theeduca-
tional attainment
rocess
and on
marital election.
Educational attain-
menthasbecome heprimary oute ooccupational ttainmentnmodern
industrial
ocieties.Higher
ducation,n
particular,
s a crucial
prerequi-
site to
the
occupancy of the
economy's
mostlucrative nd influential
positions.
ourdieu
1977a, 1977b)
has
argued hat t s
in
the
ducational
system
hat
participation
n
a
prestigious tatus ulture s
most
trongly
rewarded.
Yet not a single
tudy f
the
U.S.educational
attainmentro-
cess
has ever
attempted o measure
cultural
capital
or to
distinguish
operationallyultural
actors
rom
measures f class
position.
Marital
selection
s
a
traditional ocusof
students f the
stratification
processforwomen,because women have been less likely han menof
comparable
bility
o
follow ther
athsof educational nd
occupational
attainment
e.g.,
completing
ollege or
pursuingmiddle-class
areers).
Although
most
work
n
sociology
as
addressed hemarital
ttainmentf
women, hoice of
spouse
s also
highly
onsequential ormen.
n
a brief
reviewof
the iterature f
human
capital
economics,
eibowitz 1974a)
reportshatboth
the
earnings nd the health
of
marriedmenhave a
net
positive ssociationwith
theirwives'
educational
ttainments.
or both
women
nd
men,
then,marital
election s
vitalto ndividual
ife hances
and well-being.
Most
sociological reatments
fmarital
election
e.g.,
Elder
1969)have
viewed t
as a form
f
exchange,
ncreasinglyndividualizedwith
rising
rates f
higher ducation
nd
geographicmobility. s
Waller
nd Hillput
it,
"previously he
families
argained, ut
now
everyonemusthaggle
for
himself"
1951, p.
160). Taylor
and Glenn 1976)
have
criticized heex-
1233
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AmericanJournal f Sociology
changeperspective,
owever, ontending
hat he
unequal
distribution
f
informationnd the variation
n
men's preferencesmake
marital ex-
changemore
of a barter han a market
conomy. ndeed,
Waller,despite
his seminal contributions
o the exchange perspective,
ecognized
he
importance f shared cultural esources
n
enabling
men and womento
developtheintimacy equired
for
relationships
o
ripen
nto
marriage.
Common
nterests
ive
couples
"an
area
of
rapport,
common niverse
of
discourse r arena of nteraction"
Waller
and
Hill
1951,
pp. 176-77).
From the exchangeperspective,
hen,marriage s seen
as a market o
which
potentialpartners
ringfungible esources
hat determine
heir
respective market positions. In contrast, n this second "matching
model,"
marital election s seen as a process whereby artnersmatch
cultural esources o create a common niverse f discourse
r arena of
interaction." y distinguishingtatus nd class
in
the manner
uggested
above, we can address
the ssues
raised by
earlierwork
more
ffectively
than
can
researchers
ho
rely olely n measures
f "market osition" s
proxies or he cultural
imilarityf mates.
In
the following ection,
we develop more fully he theoreticalrgu-
ment hat status,distinct rom lass position,
an
be
understoods par-
ticipationna status ulture hat mergesnface-to-facenteraction.he
third
and
fourth ections
describe the resultsof our
empiricalwork,
which
follows rom
nd lendscredibilityo
the
theoretical rgument.
STATUS
IN ADVANCED
MARKET
ECONOMIES
In
his essay on class, status,
nd party,Weber [1922] 1968)provides
crisp analytical
distinction etween tatus and class
but
hedgeson two
critical oints: herelational
tructure
f statusgroups,
nd theempirical
association fclass and status.
Concerning
he
first,
e writes:
In
contrast o
classes,
Stande (status
groups) re normally roups.
They are, however, ften f an amorphous
kind" (p. 932). The contemporaryeader is uncertain
whether hese
"groups" redensely nterconnectedliques,morediffuse
circles," r yet
more
'amorphous"
nd
ultimately
nbounded ocial networks.
In
his discussions f the
ink between lass and status,Weberdisplays
appropriate
nd characteristic
iscretion, oting
hat
while
tatushonor
need not
necessarily
e
linked with a class situation" nd
"normally
stands nsharpopposition othepretensionsfsheerproperty,.. today
the class
situation s
by
far
the
predominant
actor"
n
the
formation f
status
groups p. 932).
In
ideal typical erms, hen,
Weber onceives f tatusgroups s tightly
bounded collectivities
ending
oward
monopolistic
losure
of
material
and cultural
pportunities
hrough
ules
governingwnership
f
prop-
1234
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Cultural
Capital
erty, ccupancyof jobs, maritalchoice, and social interaction. nder
such
conditions,
lass is
tightly ound to status-groupmembership, e-
cause mostdesirable pportunitiesor xchange redominated y status
groups.
But markets nd status ystems re competitiveorms f social organi-
zation.
The
relationship
etween he
wo s historically
pecific:
conomic
development
nd
technological hange tend to erode statusboundaries
and
push
class
to the fore,whereas conomic tagnationncourages he
dominance
f
statusover class.
Thus Weber acknowledges hat, in marketeconomies,particularly
thosecharacterized y rapid economic nd technological hange, tatus
operates
somewhat
differentlyromwhat his ideal type suggests.We
would extendhis
argument o suggest hat,
n
rapidly
hanging
market
economies such as the United States during he pastcentury),a) status
groups tend to become amorphous nd extendednetworks nstead of
cliquesor circles nd (b) therelationship etween tatus
nd class tends o
be relativelyoose.
The reasonsfor his oose coupling re many,but
each is linked o the
expansion
of
national and internationalmarkets nd
to technological
development.They includean increasingly omplexsocial division of
labor, expanded geographicmobility,ncreases n
scale and availability
of
transportation
nd
communications
media, urbanization,
ncreased
levels
of education, and the relativedecline
n
the
importance f the
extended
amily o the fortunes f members f the middle lass
(Sorokin
1959, p. 187; Collins 1975, pp. 210-14).
Under
these
conditions:
1.
Individual-social etworks, articularly
middle-class etworks,
e-
come
arger,
ess
dense and
multiplex,
nd morediffuse.
Fischer 1982]
notesthat these qualities are more characteristicfurban than of rural
and
of
upper-middle-class
han of
working-classriendship
etworks
n
the
contemporary nited States.)
2.
Individualsface increased egregation faudiences
n
everyday
n-
teractions.
mpressionmanagementGoffman 959),
based on
the
manip-
ulation of
role-specificodes
and
codes specific o speech communities
(Bernstein 971), replaces
the
role played
n
more
tightly
ounded com-
munities,
where
tatus
nhered n
social positions, ymastery f a con-
stant
ocial identity.
3. Statusthusbecomes essreducible oposition rgroupmembership
and
becomesmore cultural
rocess Collins 1981)
enacted
n the
course
of face-to-facencounters
n
relatively
iffuse ocial networks.
he abil-
ity
to
participate
n
a status
culture
s a culturalresource
hat
permits
actors
to
get
ahead
by managing mpressions,
eveloping ositive
ocal
reputations, mpressing atekeepers, nd constructingocial
networks
1235
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AmericanJournal
fSociology
thatmay
be
useful
n
educational,marital, nd occupational
ttainment
(Granovetter 982;
Lin, Ensel, and Vaughn 1981).
The
ability
o
partici-
pate
in
a prestigioustatusculture,
hen, nables ndividuals o survive
what Cicourel 1981)
calls "theroutine ssessment
f social
competence"
and to sustain
relationshipswith those
in
control
f the allocation of
rewards hatconstitutes
he stratification
rocess. See also Collins 1975;
1979, p. 58; 1981.)
MEASURES AND
DATA
First, et us consider ur measureof cultural apital. f,inmodernmar-
ket ocieties, ultural
apital s only
oosely oupled o classposition, rom
wheredo prestigioustatuscultures
ome? We believethatthey
re his-
torically rounded
n
the classification rojects
of relatively ounded
statusgroups.
By "classification rojects,"we
mean the collective fforts
by membersof
emergent tatus groups to
define
nd
institutionalize
specific ulturalelements s prestigious
nd
sacred. DiMaggio (1982b,
1982c) has documentedhow the
Boston Brahmins,
between 1870 and
1910, defined
he elements f an artisticnd musical
high ulture, evel-
oped an ideology sanctifyinghat culture, nd created nstitutions o
perpetuate
t. Tuchman
(1982),
Weber (1976),
and Wolff
1982)
have
identifiedimilar
ffortsnthefields fmusic, rt, nd
letters
n
England
and on the
Continent
uring he 19th entury.3
Although hestatusgroups hat
provided he structural
asis for his
status ulture ave
become
morediffuse
as
defined
y
higher
ates fout-
marriage,
more diverse
and less
potent ocializing
nstitutions,
nd
in-
creased social interaction
with
economic
parvenus),
the status culture
that
they
codified
etains ts interactional otencyfor
several reasons.
First, t has becomea significant artof the formal ducational ystem
and, through
that
system,
has
been
diffused,
s a cultural
model,
throughout
he class
structure.
econd,
it is
preserved
hrough
tatus
emulation
ymany
members
fthemiddle
lass,
who have adopted
both
the cultural radition nd the deology
hat egitimatest. Third, nterest
in
and familiarity
ith high culture
re still relatedto class position,
albeit
mperfectly.
he
college
educated are more ikely
han
those
with
lesseducation o attend rts events,
nd professionals
re more ikely o
attend hanblue-collarworkers
DiMaggio
and
Useem 1978). Low
corre-
3 Althoughur nterest
n
the ontent fprestigious
tatus ultureseads
us to empha-
sizethe ultural rojectsfdominanttatus roups
n this ection, e should
lsonote
anothermportantulturalhangeduring
hepast century:lass and ethnicity
ave
become eparated s
substantial umbers fthedescendantsf eastern
nd southern
European mmigrants
ave entered hemiddle
lass. Alongwith his, hepower nd
prevalence f distinctively
orking-classultures ave been ignificantly
roded.
1236
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CulturalCapital
lationsbetween
ultural articipationnd
demographic
measures
esult,
in
part,from he
fact hatonly minorityf thosegroupsmost ikely
o
participate
ctuallydo so.) Finally,high-culture
ctivities
equiringd-
vanced levels of
sophisticatione.g., appreciating he
avant-garde)
r
involving he
exercise f nfluencee.g., trusteeshipsfmajorarts nstitu-
tions) re still
primarily ominated y occupants fhigh lass positions,
as defined
y
ncome, ducation,
nd
occupational ttainment.4
Data used nthis
tudy re from ,427men nd
1,479womenwho
were
surveyed
n
1960,
when
theywere
n
theeleventh
rade,
nd
resurveyed
in 1971 by Project
Talent. The Talent survey s
unique n the range of
questions tudentswere askedabout their ttitudesoward, ctivities n,
and
knowledge bouthighculture.The sample
used here s a weighted
cross ection f
whitemen and womenwho were ntheeleventh rade
n
U.S.
high schools
n
1960.
(For
more detailed
discussion f
the Talent
data,
see
Jencks t al. 1979; Jencks, rouse, and
Mueser 1983.)
Scores
forcultural
apital range from
ero
to
4.39
formen and
from
zero to 4.18 for
women,
based
on separatefactor nalysesfor
men
and
women of 16
measuresof high- nd other ultural
ttitudes, ctivities,
and
information.
These measureswere taken at
the timeof the nitial
surveyn 1960.) Formen,variables oadingmore han 35 on thecultural
capital
factor
nclude nterest
n
attendingymphony
oncerts, xperience
performingn stageoutside
of school ettings, ttendance t arts
events,
and
having "cultivated
elf-image."The latter s therespondent'score
on a
Talent-developed cale, based on such self-evaluationtems s
"I
enjoy
beautiful
hings"
nd
"I
am a cultured
erson.")
For
women,
vari-
ables
loadinghigh
on
cultural apital nclude ll those istedformen as
well as a self-report
f iteratureeading.Male andfemale ultural apital
scores
re
converted
o z-scores
n
the analysesreported elowtoensure
comparabilityfresults ormen and women.
The
manner
n
which
he cultural apital scalewas developed nd the
rationale or ts nterpretationre discussed t
length lsewhere DiMag-
gio 1982a).
Althoughwe would like to have data
on otherprestigious
cultural
esources,
we
believe that nterest
n
and
familiarity ith radi-
tional
high-cultureorms re
the mostgeneral omponents f the domi-
nant
American
tatus ulture nd the ones most
broadly alient nd least
limited
o persons
of a certain ge or region.Analysesreported arlier
(DiMaggio 1982a) indicatethat this scale is not
simply proxy orun-
4For a morecomplete
development f
this
rgument, ee
DiMaggio and
Useem (1982).
Because we
are concerned n
this
paper withthe
stratification
rocess n general
and
not
simplythe upper
reaches
of it, our
measures of
interest n and
involvement
with
"high culture"
gauge
modest levels of
commitment
n
which
there
is
likely
to
be
significant ariation.
n terms
f Gans's
typology f
cultural tratification
1974),
these
measures tap
"upper-middle"-
ather han
"high"-culturalnvolvement.
1237
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AmericanJournal
f Sociology
measured
cademic
ability because
its effect
n performance
n
mathe-
matics
s less than tseffect
n performance
n more
humanistic
ubjects),
for reativitybecause
participation
n less prestigious,rt-making
ctivi-
tieshad
no effect n students' rades), r
for
pecific nowledge
because
scores
on a battery
f arts achievement
estshad no independent
mpact
on
grades
once general bility
was controlled).
ote
thatcultural apital
would seemto
measure elf-presentation
nd self-images
much s actual
expertise
n
high-culture
ields.We believe
thatthis
measureof
cultural
capital
s the best one available and
that t
s
satisfactory
or
he
explor-
atory
purposesof the
research
eported ere.
The principal
esult f
ts
imperfectionsill be to bias itsobserved ffects ownward.
Let us now
turn to
a discussionof the
othervariables
used in
the
analyses
reported
elow (see
Appendix).
Father'seducation
s father's
years
of
formal ducation,
based on recoding f categorical
measures
(e.g.,
high choolgraduate,
omecollege,
ome
graduate
chool).
Father's
occupational
restiges theDuncan
score
for ather'sccupation
n
1960.
Grades
in
English and
in
mathematics
re six-point
cales (from
less
thanDs" through
all As") based
on student elf-reports.
eneral bility
is a
Talent-generated
omposite
f results
n a series f achievement
nd
ability eststhatbehaves similarly o other estsof student bility see
Jencks
t al.
1979).
"Frequency
fTalk
about FuturePlans"
s a scale
ranging rom ero
to
18.
Respondents
wereasked
how many
timestheyhad discussed
their
"plans
for after
high school"
with variouspeople.
Our
measure s an
additive
cale based on the number f times hey
eported aving
these
conversations
ith
their eachers,
choolcounselors,
nd peers.
Outcome
measuresfrom he
Talent
11-year ollow-up
ncludeeduca-
tional ttainment
n
1971,
years
of education f the
respondent's
pouse,
and dichotomousmeasures ndicatingwhether rnot therespondenta)
attendedcollege,
b)
completed ollege,
and (c) received
any graduate
training.
FINDINGS
Results
are
reported
s follows:First,
for all male
and femalerespon-
dents,we report
he mpactof
father's ducation,
father's
ccupational
prestige,
measured
ability,high
school
grades, and cultural
apital
on
educational ttainmentnd college ttendance.5 econd,for ll menand
s Father's ducation s used as the only
ducational ontrol orfamily ackground
because
t
s muchmore tronglyelated
o cultural apital ormen and only lightly
less tronglyssociated
orwomen) han
mother'sducation. lso,we expect tto
be a
better roxy
ffamily ultural limate han mother's ducation.We acknowledge
others' indings
hatmother'sducational
ttainments a better redictorf
educa-
1238
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Cultural
Capital
women with
one or more years
of
college, we estimate
he
effects f
father's
ducation;father's
ccupationalprestige;measured
bility; nd
cultural apital on collegecompletion, raduateeducation, nd educa-
tional
ttainment.
inally,for ll
marriedmenand
women,
we assess the
effects
f generalability,
ultural
apital, and
own
educational ttain-
ment n whom
one
marries, s measured
byspouse's
educational
ttain-
ment.
n eachcase,
separate
nalyses fthefull
ampleof
respondents f
each
gender re
followedby
disaggregated nalyses
n
orderto testfor
interactions.6
Note
that we
do not
attempt
o estimate
complete
model
of
the
processes feducational ttainment nd marital electionwhichwould
requirenclusion
f a
broader angeof
backgroundnd
school
variables)
or
of the role
of
status-culture
articipation
n
these
processes which
would
require richer nd
more
direct etof
measures f severaldimen-
sionsof status-culture
articipation).We
attempt
nly o assess the xtent
and nature
fthe
mpact
f
a singledimension
f
tatus-culture
articipa-
tion-familiarity
with
nd interest
n
high
ulture-on aspectsof educa-
tional
attainment nd
marital
election.Our focus
here,
then,
s on the
effects
nd
significancef cultural
apital
rather han
on
the
parameters
of themodel as a whole.
EDUCATIONAL
ATTAINMENT AND
COLLEGE
ATTENDANCE
Hypotheses
First, we shall
consider
wo vital
aspects of the
stratification
rocess:
educational
attainment,which all
studies
show
to
have a
substantial
effect
n
occupational
attainment,
nd
college
attendance,
crucial
threshold
ncreasingly equired or uccess
n
the
worldof work
Collins
1971; Faia 1981).
HYPOTHESIS 1:
Cultural
apital
has a positivenet
ffect n educational
attainment nd
college
attendance
ormen and
women.
tional attainment orwomen than father's Sewell et al. 1980) and that mother's home
inputs" re more mportant or he educational achievement f youngchildren but not
adolescents)
than fathers'
Leibowitz 1974b; Mercy
and
Steelman 1982; Murnane,
Maynard, and Ohls 1981). In the absence of definitive ata, however, we expect that
"cultured"women of the
generation f the Talent sample's parentswere more ikely o
marrywell-educated men than to pursue educational credentialsthemselves. Conse-
quently,
we
suspect
that father's
education
is as
good
a
proxy
measure of mother's
status-culture articipation
s mother's
ducation itself.
6
We
undertake
eparate analyses
formen and women
in
all cases
in the
ight
of other
studies reporting ifferences
n
the stratification rocess by gender Sewell and Shah
1967; Alexander and Eckland 1974; Featherman and Hauser 1976; Sewell
et al.
1980).
DiMaggio (1982a) found variation between men and women
of different
amilyback-
grounds n the effects f cultural capital on high school grades.
1239
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American
Journal
f
Sociology
Cultural apital s expected o affect tudents' ducational ttainments
and their ikelihoodof
attending ollege significantlyy (a) increasing
their pportunities
or
pecialhelp from eachers
nd other
gatekeepers,
(b) permittinghem o develop
generalized eputations s "cultured er-
sons,"
and
(c) facilitating
ccess
to
social milieus
n
which education
s
valued and in which nformation
bout educational pportunities
s avail-
able. (Cultural apital s also expected o have a positive, ndirect
mpact
on
educational attainment nd
college
attendance
hrough
ts
positive
effect n
high
chool
grades.)
DiMaggio 1982a) reported ignificantffectsfcultural apitalon
high
school grades. Bourdieu (1977a) treatsculturalcapital as cumulative,
arguingthat the greater he early endowment,
he
easier the
further
acquisition.
t
is
possible,
of course, that individuals are sufficiently
plastic hatthe effects f this
measurewould not persist nto arly
dult-
hood. Nevertheless, e predict ersistentffects
n
the ongitudinal
nal-
yses reported
ere.
HYPOTHESIS 2: Culturalcapital
has similar ffects n the educational
attainment nd collegeattendance f men and of women.
Otherresearchers ave
reported
hatwomen
rely
n
ascriptive
harac-
teristicse. g., father's ducation) in educationalattainment,whereas
men's educational attainment
s more dependenton measured ability
(Alexander nd Eckland 1974; Sewell, Hauser, and Wolf 1980).
We do
not know whether his s truebecause women are judged more on
the
basis oftheir
selves"
thanon
their ask-specificerformancediffuseness
vs.
specificity,
n
Parsonian
erms)
r
because women ucceedon thebasis
of
the
resources nd
reputations
f
theirfamilies nstead of
their
own
(ascription
s.
achievement).
f
the former
s
true,
we would
expect
ul-
tural
capital-an
achieved
but
diffusely
elevant
ttribute f the social
self-to have greater ffectsorwomen hanformen. fthe atters,we
would
expect
heeffects f cultural apital to be about equal for
menand
women.
HYPOTHESIS
3: The net mpact
of cultural apital on educational
t-
tainmentand
college
attendance
is
greater for daughters
of
high-
education
men than
for
daughters
f ow-educationmen.
HYPOTHESIS : The net mpact
of cultural apital on educational
t-
tainment nd
college
ttendance
s
greater
or ons of ow-education
men
than for ons of
high-education
en.
Bourdieu 1977b) has arguedthat forFrance)theefficacyf cultural
interests s
dependenton
the
background f theirpossessor nd
that
individuals
f higher lass position ossess
a more uthentic elationship
to
culture han
those
n
less
privileged
roups.
n this
ultural
eproduc-
tion
view,
a
positive
nteraction etweenfamily ackground
measures
and
cultural
capital is expected.
DiMaggio (1982a),
in a
study
of
the
1240
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Cultural
Capital
effects f
cultural apital
on
high
chool
grades,
found ome
support
or
this view for
women's achievement.But
he
also
found
hat,
for
boys,
culturalcapital had its strongest
mpact
on
grades
for sons of
least
educatedmen.
He
interpretedhis s an indication hat
he
cquisition
f
cultural
apital s, for oys,
n
aspectof nticipatory
ocializationnto
he
middle class. In
this culturalmobility
model, then,
we would
expecta
negative
nteraction etweenbackgroundmeasures nd cultural
apital
in
predictingducational ttainment.7
HYPOTHESIS
: Culturalcapital has a positivenet effect n
conversa-
tions about future lans with
teachers, ounselors,
nd
peers
for both
men and women.
Recall thatwe
argue
hat
ultural apital ssists tudents y
facilitating
interaction
with high-status thers,
consequently ncreasing he
fre-
quency
of
such
interactions.
n
the nitialTalent
survey,
tudentswere
asked
how
often
hey spoke
with others
bout
their
post-high
chool
plans. We
expect ultural apital to be
associatedwithfrequencyf con-
versationwith
teachers nd school
counselors bout
future
lans. Also,
because we anticipate ultural apital
to facilitate articipation
n
student
milieus hat
value education,we
expect t to be positivelyssociatedwith
frequency fsuch conversations ithpeers.
Results
Resultsof
OLS regression nalysisfor he
full
male and female
amples
are
displayed
n
table 1.
Distributions n the
binary
ariableswere
split
fairly venly, nd
logisticregressionnalysesyieldedresults hat were
substantively
dentical
o
the
OLS
findings. onsequently,
e
present
he
OLS
results ere
n
the nterest f
comparability
nd
simplicity
f
presen-
tation see Cohen and Cohen 1975).
Cultural
capital
has
a strongly
ignificantP