EXAMINING CULTURAL CAPITAL IN A THEORETICAL CONTEXT

Abstract

The most important actions and skills that regulate a person's life, starting from daily life skills in his immediate and distant environment, and determine the path he will follow, consist of cultural and social principles. These principles both answer people's existential questions and ensure social order. Cultural formation controlled by the moral rules and legal rules of societies; It contains qualities that reflect the unique characteristics of nations and distinguish societies from each other. Schools are institutions where cultural knowledge is transferred in the process of social adaptation, social skills and the necessary knowledge and skills for gaining a profession are taught, and education is carried out in certain places in a planned manner. Cultural capital that affects the success achieved in the education process; It is also affected by developments in the education process.

Cultural capital is expressed as the result of cultural accumulation and experiences gained through a good education. Cultural capital, in its shortest form, emerges as a result of education. Schools form the basis of cultural capital. Although the importance of schools is emphasized in the emergence of cultural capital, the most accurate expression would be to describe another important actor as the accumulations that families leave to their generations and the development of these through education from schools. Of course, the social structure of individuals and the accumulations that come with it also constitute an important point.

The cultural capital-oriented aim of education is to transmit the culture and behavioral patterns of upper-class families to the next generation. According to this perspective, education for everyone is not sufficient to ensure equality in society. The fact that schools are at different levels and that individuals have different class and family structures prevents education from providing equality. It is also seen that the cultural achievements of children studying in the same school are different. The most important step that school administrators and teachers should make in this regard is to aim to minimize inequality. Another important step is for teachers to determine the potential of their students and determine an educational approach appropriate to this potential. In order for these steps to be realized, school administrators and teachers must have reached a certain level of cultural capital. It is not possible for teachers and administrators who do not improve themselves, do not read books, do not do sports or are not interested in any branch of art to be effective transmitters. In particular, school administrators need to lead not only academic studies but also social and cultural activities.