Title: Reproduction of social class hierarchy and cultural capital effects: what it means for children from weaker sections

Authors: Ashu Kapur

Addresses: Department of Education, University of Delhi, 33, Chattra Marg, New Delhı-110007, India

Abstract: The present paper is based on a case study in an urban social set-up of Delhi, the capital of India, using an ethnographic methodological approach to collect data by undertaking prolonged and persistent observations of school and classroom; conducting semi-structured interviews with principal, parents, and teachers, and gathering narratives from children. Sociological explanations are given of the social class-cultural processes and practices prevalent inside the private school setting which can be considered typical of other suitable alternatives. How education has become an island of exclusion with privileges for only a small section of minority and deprivation for those belonging to economically weaker sections, lends a unique understanding on the power of dominant order. Findings reveal the divergent discourses that are evident in private schools which tend to maintain their 'highbrow' social class cultural character by adopting different mechanisms. The impacts such market-inclined culture has on the lives of disadvantaged children reinforces the school's hidden agenda of schooling as that of reproducing social class hierarchy by way of naturalising cultural capital effects.

Keywords: cultural capital; social-class; school culture; privatisation; equality; inclusion.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2022.130417

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2022 Vol.15 No.4, pp.536 - 556

Received: 18 Jan 2019
Accepted: 08 Feb 2019
Published online: 20 Apr 2023 *

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