Human Capital, Social Capital, and Cultural Capital

Family Background, Cultural Capital, and College Major Choice in China Shift of attention to horizontal stratification

college major choice. Hypothesis: greater endowment of cultural capital are more likely to study liberal arts rather than STEM fields FAM BG -> Cultural capital > cognitive performance + non-cognitive habitus > college major

Human Capital One of the most important ideas in labor economics is to think of the set of marketable skills of workers as a form of capital in which workers make a variety of investments.

human capital corresponds to any stock of knowledge or characteristics the worker has (either innate or acquired) that contributes to his or her "productivity"

Measures of cultural capital Objectified cultural capital is captured by

the possession of cultural goods and learning resources (cultural resources)

Cultural capital:

(Bourdieu) widely shared high-status cultural signals (e.g. attitudes, preferences, formal knowledge, behaviors, goods, and credentials) used for social and cultural exclusion. Focus only on middle and upper classes Hard to be measured on empirical grounds due to a lack of conceptual clarity. The concept can be operationalized in multiple ways

How the families' cultural milieu (the inherited cultural capital) has influenced the status attainment process? TWO THESES

- Cultural reproduction theory (BOURDIEU) - Cultural mobility (DIMAGGIO) Two edges of one sword

Bourdieu identifies three categories of capital:

- Economic capital: command of economic resources (money, assets, property). - Social capital: actual and potential resources linked to the possession of a durable network of institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition. - Cultural capital: A person's education and cultivation (knowledge and intellectual skills) that provides advantage in achieving a higher social-status in society.

Cultural capital has been used in two contrasting directions.

- to explain the reproduction of social hierarchy, as elite families endow their children with the cultural capital which enables them to succeed in maintaining their elite position (BOURDIEU) - to explain how some manage to use education to move from non-elite positions into elite positions (DIMAGGIO)

Heckman's Findings Data: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). Cognitive abilities: Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT), i.e., ASVAB. Noncognitive abilities: Rotter Locus of Control Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

1. For many dimensions of labor market outcomes and social behavior and for the sense of "importance" (equal strength, not equal cost) adopted in this article, noncognitive ability is as important, if not more important, than cognitive ability 2. Noncognitive ability affects the acquisition of skills, productivity in the market, and a variety of behaviors. Cognitive ability affects market productivity, skill acquisition, and a variety of behaviors 3. Noncognitive skills raise wages through their direct effects on productivity, as well as through their indirect effects on schooling and work experience. 4. There are important gender differences in the effects of these skills but for most behaviors, both factors play an important role for both men and women. 5. Schooling and engaged parents raise both cognitive and noncognitive abilities.

Three Non-economic Forms of Capital

1. Human capital 2. Social capital 3. Cultural capital

Family Background, Cultural Capital, and College Major Choice in China Conclusions

1. Those with greater cultural capital are more likely to come from advantaged families, and, at the same time, they demonstrate a significantly stronger propensity in majoring in liberal arts fields rather than in STEM fields. 2. cultural capital influences one's study field choice largely through improving one's non- cognitive habitus instead of cognitive skills 3. the mediation effect of cultural capital differs by gender, stronger for female students than for male students

Social capital:

A variety of entities with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures (social networks, norms), and they facilitate certain actions of actors (trust, reciprocity, information, cooperation etc.) within the structure Usually measured by membership, participation, cohesion, interactions and economic transactions. No widely held consensus on the measurement

Three Types of Cultural Capital

Embodied state: captures one's knowledge and consciousness to appreciate high culture signals. E.g., tastes, language, habitus. Objectified state: characterizes the physical objects related to high culture. E.g., a work of art, a musical instrument. Institutionalised state: refers to a type of institutionally recognized cultural endowment. E.g., academic credentials.

Family Background, Cultural Capital, and College Major Choice in China Data and variables

Intended college major: STEM, liberal arts, broad and narrow definitions Cultural capital (objectified type): classical literature such as the Dream of Red Mansions; poetry; and artwork Family background: parents' education, political status, employment status, and family annual income Cognitive and non-cognitive abilities: one's performance in the national college entrance examination (NCEE) and the independent freshman/woman admission (IFA) program.

Human capital:

The knowledge, skills, competences and other attributes embodied in individuals that are relevant to economic activity Usually measured by schooling, qualification and experience. Recent development: cognitive abilities + non-cognitive abilities, health.

The term "noncognitive abilities" is used to cover

a broad and ill-defined category of these metrics encompassing personality, socioemotional skills, and behaviors.

Measures of cultural capital Embodied cultural capital can be gauged by

cultural activities, such as individuals' participation in high-culture activities, attending classical concerts, museums, and theaters. In addition, reading habit is also employed to proxy embodied cultural capital.

How the families' cultural milieu (the inherited cultural capital) has influenced the status attainment process? - Cultural mobility (DIMAGGIO)

cultural capital is more a means of social mobility and can play a compensatory role, helping lower status children achieve above their parents. Returns to cultural capital could be stronger in a low-achieving schooling environment.

Human Capital Mincer equation

earnings are regarded as a function of schooling and work experience (both are measures of cognitive abilities). One of the most widely used models in empirical economics, but is incomplete as it omits measures of noncognitive abilities

Family Background, Cultural Capital, and College Major Choice in China Class-based inequality in education

exclusionary cultural advantages of upper-class children converted into tangible academic success. past studies on east asian societies negate a strong effect of cultural capital in educational inequality, partly due to the characteristic extreme focus on standardized test and curriculum in the East.

How the families' cultural milieu (the inherited cultural capital) has influenced the status attainment process? - Cultural reproduction theory (BOURDIEU)

mechanisms by which continuity of cultural experience is sustained across time. Cultural reproduction often results in social reproduction, or the process of transferring aspects of society (such as class) from generation to generation

Bowles & Gintis (1976) were among the first to argue that noncognitive traits and behaviors are

more important than cognitive skills in determining schooling and employment outcomes

Cultural capital is considered an important mechanism in the

production and reproduction of educational and social hierarchies.

Cognitive and Noncognitive Abilities Economists emphasize that, despite human capital such as education, work experience, and cognitive ability,

psychological traits are also important impactors of economic success

Measures of cultural capital Institutionalized cultural capital is usually measured by

the length of formal education or whether holding a formal credential.