Convertibility of Cultural Capital: A Longitudinal Study of University Students From 2017 to 2024

Abstract

A defining feature of cultural capital is its propensity for accumulation and the potential of its convertibility. However, there are a lack of studies that would explore how different forms of cultural capital could be employed as an advantage. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the effect of cultural capital on achieving educational outcomes while utilising a detailed array of questions focused on cultural practices and taste. The study is based on two waves of a longitudinal survey of the 2016–18 cohort of students at Charles University (N = 5127/2020). The analysis employs a categorical principal components analysis to measure established and emerging forms of embodied cultural capital. The results show that while institutionalised cultural capital has a significant effect on the likelihood of completing a university education, embodied cultural capital has no such effect, regardless of whether we focus on established or emerging forms. However, the convertibility of embodied cultural capital is substantial when the analysis focuses on study-abroad experiences during tertiary education. These results can be explained from the perspective of differentiated parallel areas of social space—one that relies on locally powerful state institutions, such as a national education system, and another that is part of the global space of cultural hierarchies centered in core European economic and cultural centers.