Families, education, and equity: The role of social and cultural capital

• Main Author: Griswold, Carolyn Puckett
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1994
• Subjects: Families & family life; Higher education; Individual & family studies; Personal relationships; Sociology
• ISBN: 9798209413509

Although researchers have for some time found relationships between socioeconomic status and educational attainment, much of the variation in attainment remains unexplained, and the mechanisms through which background affects attainment have not been clear. One theory that has been proposed, but rarely tested empirically, is that family social and cultural capital affect attainment. Social capital is the set of networks through which families gain help, information, and norms; cultural capital is made up of family beliefs and knowledge about education. It is proposed that some types of social and cultural capital are resources providing special advantages in the educational system. This study investigates the relationships among socioeconomic background, social and cultural capital, and educational attainment. Of particular interest is the power of these relationships in middle school and early high school. Little has been done to explore these relationships, especially among younger students and their parents. Moreover, work needs to be done to conceptualize appropriate measures of them. This study addresses these needs, using longitudinal data from a recent nationally representative data set, the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS-88), collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The study used data from a base-year survey of students who were in eighth grade in 1988, and first follow-up data collected in 1990. These data were explored using multivariate analysis tools, including regression and the Linear Structural Relations program (LISREL). Use of LISREL allowed testing of structural and measurement relationships simultaneously. Results of this study suggest that social and cultural capital are related to background and contextual influences. Moreover, some aspects of social and cultural capital do appear to influence educational attainment above and beyond the contribution of background and contextual influences. It does appear that disadvantaged children and their families tend to lack the kinds of social and cultural capital that can be leveraged into advantage in the educational system. Moreover, regardless of socioeconomic status, students having these types of social and cultural capital are more likely to have higher attainment. Results may offer policy-makers valuable insight into what is needed to encourage postsecondary attendance.