how acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital contribute to shaping identities

8/4/2019 How Acquisition of Cultural and Symbolic Capital Contribute to Shaping Identities

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How the acquisition ofcultural and symbolic capital

contribute to shaping

identities

Juan Alberto Amador Cruz

Fall 2011


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Reason of the study

Cultural capital and symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 2003) are concepts

typically found in social studies. Even though language learning deals

with social issues, there is little English Language research focused on

social theories in the Mexican context.

Contribution to the field

Breen (1985) says that learning a language cannot be separated from

social factors because these factors always affect the interactions among

people. The participants in this research seemed to have significant

experiences during college related to language learning, and beyond

language learning context, they increased their cultural capital when theyinvested not only in education and academic experiences (cultural

capital), but also they looked for recognition of their capital from society

(symbolic capital). It is then needed to connect classroom, to a broader

social, cultural and political relations (Pennycook 1999, p. 331).


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Purpose of the study

The purpose of this research mainly deals with two English teachers

cultural capital increase. Since language is a social issue, it is

important to connect social studies in the field of languages

(Pennycook 2001). The study is then based on exploring the

contribution of cultural and symbolic capital acquisition in shaping

identities of two English teachers with similar background andcultural capital.

In light of the purpose of this investigation the following questions

were set:


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RQ1 What forms of cultural capital have the participants acquired

throughout their professional and personal lives? (In what contexts?)

RQ2 What forms of symbolic capital have the participants acquired

throughout their professional and personal lives? (In what contexts?)

RQ3 What type of investment have the participants made in order toacquire cultural and symbolic capital?

RQ4 How did participants negotiate their identities through the

acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital?


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Key terms

Cultural capitalcultural capital is a social theory that was mainly developed by

the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. This cultural capital is possessed

by people and it has different value according to their

environments. Flairclough (1996) says that cultural capital

determines the social classes in which people move and where

there are always dominant classes because of the different kinds

of capitals they have.

Symbolic capital

Symbolic capital is essential to complement and understand the

concept of cultural capital. In few words, symbolic capital is the

power recognized from one social group to the other; the weightof different agents depends on their symbolic capital, i. e. on the

recognition, institutionalized or not, that they receive from a

group (Bourdieu, 2003 p.72).


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Linguistic capitalLanguage is essential here because the study is focused on two

teachers of English who speak Nahuatl, an indigenous Mexican

language. That is, the participants have an interesting level of

linguistic capital since they speak three languages: Spanish, Nahuatl

and English. Linguistic capital is basically a subset of cultural capital

contained in appropriate ease in the command of language (Blunden,2004, p. 4).

Identity

Identity is analyzed from a sociocultural perspective in this research,

because identity is perceived as dynamic and changing through the

time and according to the place (Norton, 2006). One of the objectivesin this project is to analyze how participants shaped their identity

across the acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital, which deals

with cultural and social issues.


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1 Background of the context

The participants in this study had a strong connection with the Faculty

of Modern Languages at BUAP, because a significant part of their

cultural capital seemed to be increased in this context

Two Mexican participants with a similar cultural capital took part in this

research; one man and one woman (Leno and Idalia). Both participants

were referred with pseudonyms. They were in their late twenties andboth were English teachers. Their characteristics were: both teachers

studied the undergraduate degree in English language teaching at the

research site in the period 2002-2007. Both graduated through

Titulacin Automtica, and both participants had a scholarship from

public funds during the their whole major.

Both teachers spoke Nahuatl which is an indigenous language inMexico.

At the moment of the research, both teachers were in-service. Leno

had been working at a public university for two years and Idalia in a

private one.

They both accepted to be volunteer participants in this study.


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Methodology

A case study is used to explain the how of this research. There is no

formula to know when a case study is suitable to use; nevertheless

it strongly depends on the research question and the more this

question looks for the how and why of a social concern, a case

study should be used (Yin, 2009). The how concerned in this

research is how cultural and symbolic capital contribute to shapingidentities in participants

Narratives were used for the data collection. Participants were asked

to narrate their stories of life in detail. Narratives were chosen

because they needed to explain their experiences without limits.

An interview is planned for next week in order to understand the

participants stories better and go in depth.


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The data analysis is focused on three parts:

cultural capital: related to formal studies and institutional

recognition.

symbolic capital: related to recognition from society.

Linguistic capital: related to languages.

shaping identities: changes in their identities.

The category of linguistic capital was created in the process


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Analysis


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Early conclusions

In the analysis recognition from both sides, society and institutions isthe key to shaping identities. When college gave credit to Edalia and

Leno for their good grades with scholarships, and when university

recognized their Nahuatl language (linguistic capital), they suffered

positive changes in their identities. Their Nahuatl linguistic capital was

recognized by college and their job, after this recognition a

transformation in their identity was also perceived. In the case of Leno,after giving Nahuatl classes. In Idalias, after her participation in PAAEI.

Idalia was given a scholarship to study a Master in Spain

Leno is thinking of enrolling to a Master program.

Both of them strongly argued that thank to the education and support

(recognition) from schools, institutions, scholarships, organizations,professors, classmates, family, and friends they had change their life

and identities personally and professionally.

how acquisition of cultural and symbolic capital contribute to shaping identities

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