“Depending on the field in which it functions, and at the cost of the more or less expensive transformations which are the preconditions for its efficacy in the field in question, capital can present itself in three fundamental guises: as economic capital, which is immediately and directly convertible into money and may be institutionalized in the form of property rights; as cultural capital, which is convertible, on certain conditions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form of educational qualifications; and as social capital, made up of social obligations (“connections”), which is convertible, in certain conditions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the form of a title of nobility.”
Capital is not something we are taught to or sometimes even able to see when trained to. Bourdieu describes capital as being within “guises” for a reason. The three types of guises, he theorizes, are economic, cultural and social. Economic capital is or can be converted by monetary exchange. Types of economic capital are property: estates, cars, money, bonds, etc. Because economic value is always somehow physical, it can be passed down and inherited, and therefore is somewhat flexible. It can be gained and lost fairly easily. Cultural capital can sometimes be converted into economic capital but isn’t inherently economic. A way for it to be institutionalized as economic, Bourdieu states, can be through educational qualifications. For example, if someone has a degree from Harvard University, their education in itself is cultural capital because they had access to a certain level of knowledge and background that gives it to them, but this can be translated into things like higher pay wages since they have the reputation of being “from Harvard” as a sort of brand name- allowing them to be part of something exclusive (social capital) and providing them with economic capital they may not have had access to before. Social capital, or “connections” are those relationships or names that allow one access into certain social spheres and translating sometimes to economic and cultural capital by doing so, i.e. the Harvard example, membership to a fraternity or sorority, membership to the Athanaeum library, etc.
"Cultural capital can be acquired, to a varying extent, depending on the period, society and the social class, in the absence of any deliberate inculcation, and therefore quite unconsciously. It always remains marked by its earliest conditions of acquisition which through the more or less visible marks they leave (such as the pronunciations characteristic of a class or region), help to determine its distinctive value. It cannot be accumulated beyond the appropriating capacities of an individual agent: it declines and dies with its bearer (with his biological capacity, his memory, etc.)."
In other words, cultural capital is often acquired by a person by accident. It is often passed along to one through family members, upbringing, education, society, media and other external resources that shape a person in terms of their background, accents, characteristics, the way they carry themselves, the way they handle money, etc. For example, one night my partner and I were out with my family for dinner. My partner commented on how he could tell that my grandmother came from wealth after that interaction. When I asked how he knew, he told me that it was apparent in the way she discreetly handed her card to the waiter before the check even came without anyone else taking notice. I thought about this for a moment and realized he was right…if my parents, who are a textbook example of “working class” had attempted to cover the check it would’ve been somewhat of a production and an act of martyrship, showing off that they had the money to cover the bill and were nice enough to be willing to do so. These practices are individual characteristics and acts that die with that individual, in other words, they are not physically passed down in the ways that property can be.
“The profits which accrue from membership in a group are the basis of the solidarity which makes them possible. This does not mean that they are consciously pursued as such, even in the case of groups like select clubs, which are deliberately organized to concentrate social capital…”
An example of social capital, highlighted in this quote, could be the membership to a university. Alumnae of a certain class, college or major have solidarity; there are commonalities amongst the group that are recognized on some conscious or subconscious level. Bourdieu argues that this kind of solidarity is not necessarily pursued by people, but individuals may desire to be part of a specific social group because they internalize the meanings of what being a part of that social circle means and want to reap the benefits of membership to it.
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