Moments of Social Inclusion and Exclusion Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Family-School Relationships

Moments of Social Inclusion and Exclusion RACE AND CLASS SHAPES SCHOOL EXPERIENCES Mr. Bourdieu argues that students with more valuable social capital perform better in school compared to their peers with less valuable social capital. He also states that race and social class of students do influence the transmission of inequality in education. Bourdieu strictly followed and attuned his study to the strategies and actions that individuals pursue in their daily. He also gave no adequate consideration to the moments of reproduction and exclusion. His work further failed to acknowledge the fact that the value of social capital or resources greatly depend on social location, setting and or field. Bourdieu failed to recognize that there is a crucial difference between possession and activation of social capital or resources. Therefore, we conclude that reproduction is not an excessively deterministic persistent process as proposed by Bourdieu but rather a jagged and uneven and is continually negotiated by actors. Brantlinger pointed in his research that differences in social class affect children`s progress in schools. However, his theory has been criticized for not addressing the interactions and interventions between students, parents and teachers. Thus his theory is incomplete and simplistic because it did not advance knowledge of the process by which social resources are converted into educational advantage. Instead, Brantlinger focused on how social and cultural resources contribute and perpetuate educational disparity. Lareau reiter...