Bourdieu and Teacher Education

Introduction

Pierre Bourdieu’s theory regarding education is closely connected to class inequalities in educational attainment and to issues of class reproduction in capitalist society. For Bourdieu, however, social position is not only affected by economic forms of capital: “It is in fact impossible to account for the structure and functioning of the social world unless one reintroduces capital in all its forms and not solely in the one form recognised by economic theory” (Bourdieu 1986: 241). Thus, Bourdieu introduces the argument that social position is determined also by other forms of capital, such as social and cultural capital. Taking each different form of capital, identified by Bourdieu in relation to capital assets an individual may hold, these might be understood as:

• Economic capital: the control of economic resources, such as money, assets, and property

• Social Capital:the actual and potential resources linked to a person’s network of relationships, mutual acquaintances,...