Cultural reproduction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cultural Reproduction refers to the process in which existing cultural values and norms are passed down from one generation to the next. Cultural Reproduction often results in Social Reproduction, or the process of transferring aspects of society (such as class) from generation to generation. It was introduced by Pierre Bourdieu and Passeron in Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction.

Bourdieu focuses on the structural reproduction of disadvantages and inequalities that are caused by Cultural Reproduction. According to Bourdieu, inequalities are recycled through the education system and other social institutions. Through Cultural Reproduction, only those members of the dominant culture are able to acquire knowledge in relation to the way it is taught from within this cultural system. Thus those who are not members of the dominant culture are at a disadvantage to receive cultural information, and therefore will remain at a disadvantage.Capitalist societies depend on a stratified social system, where the working class has an education suited for manual labour: levelling out such inequalities would break down the system. Thus, schools in capitalist societies require a method of stratification, and often chose to do so in a way in which the dominant culture will not lose its hegemony. One method of maintaining this stratification is through Cultural Reproduction.