Cultural capital is the whole of knowledge, cognitive skills and training of a person who can gain or retain social privileges. This will affect social mobility.

The concept is derived from Pierre Bourdieu, which distinguished between different types of capital that people need to acquire power and influence. In addition to cultural capital, this was initially economic capital such as money and real estate, and social capital such as relationships and networks. This triple is inspired by the theory of Weber. Later, Bourdieu added other forms of capital, especially symbolic and linguistic capital.

Bourdieu distinguishes three forms of cultural capital: the embodied, the objective, and the institutionalized state.

The embodied state is formed by the "sustainable dispositions of the organism": the acquired skills ("luggage") of an individual. It is literacy, cultural knowledge and other competencies that are inseparably linked to the person and whose structure is taking long.

The objective state consists of tangible things like documents, paintings and instruments, and is therefore transferable to the offspring.

The institutionalized state includes diplomas and titles. Also see

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