Social Transformation - Class Culture and Cultural Capital

Class Culture and Cultural Capital

In order for an individual to gain membership into a group, he or she must engage in "requisite role enactments" to be recognized and legitimized as a member of the group. This means taking on the commonly associated scripts associated with different classes, understood through studying the different types of class culture and forms of culture capital. This can include cultural capital, a term created by Pierre Bourdieu, and can be in three states:

• Embodied: Inherited and acquired way of thinking about one's self or habitus.
• Objectified: Things (objects) which are owned, such as a BMW, a home, a painting, etc.
• Institutionalized: Recognition on an institutional level, such as earning a college degree or prestigious award.

In a study by Mark Granfield of working-class law students aiming to succeed at an Ivy-League law school, Granfield noted the importance of making alterations in the students' "interpersonal relations" including everyday changes such as patterns in their clothing and speech.