DiMAGGIO MOHR Cultural Capital Educational Attainment And Marital Selection

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Cultural Capital, Educational Attainment, and Marital SelectionAuthor(s): Paul DiMaggio and John MohrSource: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 90, No. 6 (May, 1985), pp. 1231-1261Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2779635Accessed: 21-07-2015 16:02 UTC

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2/32

Cultural

Capital,

Educational

Attainment,

and Marital Selection1

Paul

DiMaggio and John

Mohr

Yale University

Although

Weberdistinguished

harply etween

class" an individ-

ual's

marketposition)

nd "status"

participation

n

a collectivity

bound together y a shared statusculture), nlymeasuresofthe

former ave

been

ncluded

n

most mpirical

nalyses f

the

tratifi-

cation

process.

n

this rticle

measure f status-culturearticipa-

tion

or cultural

apital)

s

developed

from heresponses f

menand

women

nterviewed

n

1960 byProjectTalent.

Questions apped

a

range

fhigh-cultural

nterestsndactivities.

nalyses fdata

from

a

follow-up tudy

11

years

ater howsignificantffects

f cultural

capital

with appropriate ontrols)

n educational ttainment,

ol-

lege

attendance,

college completion,graduate

attendance,

and

marital election orboth

men

and

women.

A

vital element

nWeber'sclassic theory

f social stratification

as been

omitted

n

most

contemporarytudiesof

the

stratification

rocess.

Al-

though

researchershave shown ingenuity

n

developing

measuresof

"class"

or

"market

osition,"

ew

have addressed

he problem f

howto

measure

participation

n

prestigious

tatus culturesdirectly.

nstead,

most

have

attempted o

capture status" hrough

measures f such

posi-

tionalor

demographic

ttributes

s

occupational

ank,gender, ocioeco-

1

Thispaper has

benefitedmmenselyrom

areful nd critical eadings yRandall

Collins,

Herbert

ans,Jerome arabel,

David

Karen,

Richard

Murnane,

ichardA.

Peterson, obert

obinson, eithRoe, Ann widler,MichaelUseem, nd three

non-

ymous eviewers,

hegood dviceofnone f

whomwas followedo scrupulouslys to

renderhem

ulpablefor ny remaining

nadequacies.An earlier raft f thispaper

was presentedt

the nnualmeetingf heAmerican ociological ssociation

Section

on

Education, ession

n

Social Class and Higher ducation; erome arabel,

hair),

Detroit,August

1983. We gratefully

cknowledge omputerupport rom heYale

University

ociology epartment

nd

Institutionor

Social

and

Policy tudies nd

institutionalssistance rom heYale Programn Non-Profitrganizationsnd the

Center

or

Advanced

tudy

n

the

Behavioral ciences.

We

are

ndebted

o

Marilyn

Mandell,

Barbara Ruber, nd Leslie Lindzey or xpert ssistancen

preparinghis

manuscriptor

publication. equests or

eprintshouldbe sent o Paul DiMaggio,

DepartmentfSociology, ale University, ew

Haven, Connecticut6520.

C

1985by

The

University

f

Chicago.

All

rights

eserved.

0002-9602/85/9006-0005$01

50

AJS

Volume

90

Number

6

1231

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/32

AmericanJournal

f

Sociology

nomic status,or educational

attainment

often reated

s a

proxy

for

human capital

or labormarket osition Parkin

1978]).

If

Weber's concept

of statusculturewere reducible o such measures

(i.e., if

status-culture

embership eretightly oupled to status

groups

formed n the basis of

economic

market

osition),

uch failure o

distin-

guish

between

class" and "status"would

have

few

onsequences.

o the

extent

hatthe two areonly

oosely ssociated,

however,

t

s

essential o

distinguish hemboth

analytically

nd

operationally.2

Several recent studies

suggest

the

inability

f conventionaldemo-

graphic nd

positionalmeasures o capture

onsequential

spects

of

cul-

turalvariation.Jencks t al. (1979) found trong ffects ffamily ack-

ground n

educational nd

occupational ttainmenthatwere

nottapped

by a wide range

ofconventionalmeasures f

family

status."

DiMaggio

(1982a)

discovered only modest

correlationsbetween

fathers' and

mothers'

ducational ttainmentsnd the

"cultural apital" of

a

national

sample

of

whitehigh school

students,

articularlymong theboys,but

found

significant

ffects f

cultural

capital

on

grades.

Peterson

1983)

reports ow

correlations etweendemographic

measures nd patterns f

cultural

participation

nd

stylesof life. Howell

and McBroom (1982)

report ubstantial ffects f measures of family ultureon the school

performancef

elementarytudents utweak

relationships etween osi-

tional

measuresof

family

ackground nd

child-rearingeliefs nd

at-

titudes.

Davis,

in

an

article on

"class cultures," inds o few

notable

associations f

positional ariableswith

broad

range

fattitudes hathe

concludes

hat new

theories, erhapsmore

ultural han

tructural, ay

be

in

order"

o

explain ome

aspectsof

the

stratificationystem

1982, p.

585).

We believe that

what

is

needed is a

return o Weber's

early nsight

about thedistinction etween heclass market osition)ndstatus rders

([1922] 1968, pp. 926-40). A

person's class position, s he

defines t,

consistsof causal

factors

nfluencing

he

individual's ife chances

in

a

market

conomy.

A

class "does

not

n

itself onstitute group"

p. 930).

Class

position

s

impersonal:

the

market

nd

its

processesknows no

personaldistinctions"

p. 936).

In

contrast,Weber viewed

status

as

in-

2

We use

the erm

class"

only

n

the

Weberian

ense.Marxist

efinitionsf

class are

varied ndmanifold.n generalandwithno ittle versimplification),arx's class-

in-itself's

similar o

"class"

nWeber's

ense albeit

with

strong

mphasis n

abor

market

ositions

opposed o

position

nother

markets),

hereas

class-for-itself'

s a

Weberian

abor

market lassthat

s

also

a

status

roup.

imilarly,uruse

of

he erm

"status"

ollows rom

althought

develops

n)thatof

Weber.The

relationshipe-

tween

his

onceptionf

tatus

nd theuse of

he

erm n

social

nthropology

Warner

and

Lunt

1942,p. 3, n.

1) and

structural

ociology

Burt1982) s

similarlyeyond he

scope

of

this

paper.

1232



4/32

Cultural

Capital

separablefrom he

ndividual's

participation

n

a

human

group

nd

the

culture f that

group,

the

"style

f

ife"

that s

"expected

rom ll

those

who wishto

belong

o the circle"

p. 932).

Status

s seen as an

emergent

quality

grounded

n

inte-action:

s "an effectivelaim to social

esteem"

(pp.

304-6), implying oth

a claimant nd a claimee

who,

at leastfor-

mally,maytreat he

claim

as illegitimate. he

status

ulture

s

the

means

by

which he tatus

group

maintains

ts

cohesion nd

preserves

ts

ability

to

distance tself rom ther

roups

n

society.

The decisive ole

of

style

of ife

n

status

honormeans

that tatus

groups re the

pecific

earers f

all

conventions"

pp. 935-36).

We takeWeber'semphasison the nteractionalnd culturalbases of

status

seriously.

Using a measure

developed

byDiMaggio

(1982a),

we

show that

nterest

n

and

experiencewith

prestigious ultural

esources

(which,

following

ourdieu,we call

"cultural

apital")

n

high

choolhas

a

significantlyositive

mpact

on

many

aspects

of

the

educational nd

marital

ttainment

f

a

cross-sectional

ample

of white

Americanmen

and

women

11

years

ater.

Our

focus s

on

the

mpact f

status-culture

articipationn theeduca-

tional attainment

rocess

and on

marital election.

Educational attain-

menthasbecome heprimary oute ooccupational ttainmentnmodern

industrial

ocieties.Higher

ducation,n

particular,

s a crucial

prerequi-

site to

the

occupancy of the

economy's

mostlucrative nd influential

positions.

ourdieu

1977a, 1977b)

has

argued hat t s

in

the

ducational

system

hat

participation

n

a

prestigious tatus ulture s

most

trongly

rewarded.

Yet not a single

tudy f

the

U.S.educational

attainmentro-

cess

has ever

attempted o measure

cultural

capital

or to

distinguish

operationallyultural

actors

rom

measures f class

position.

Marital

selection

s

a

traditional ocusof

students f the

stratification

processforwomen,because women have been less likely han menof

comparable

bility

o

follow ther

athsof educational nd

occupational

attainment

e.g.,

completing

ollege or

pursuingmiddle-class

areers).

Although

most

work

n

sociology

as

addressed hemarital

ttainmentf

women, hoice of

spouse

s also

highly

onsequential ormen.

n

a brief

reviewof

the iterature f

human

capital

economics,

eibowitz 1974a)

reportshatboth

the

earnings nd the health

of

marriedmenhave a

net

positive ssociationwith

theirwives'

educational

ttainments.

or both

women

nd

men,

then,marital

election s

vitalto ndividual

ife hances

and well-being.

Most

sociological reatments

fmarital

election

e.g.,

Elder

1969)have

viewed t

as a form

f

exchange,

ncreasinglyndividualizedwith

rising

rates f

higher ducation

nd

geographicmobility. s

Waller

nd Hillput

it,

"previously he

families

argained, ut

now

everyonemusthaggle

for

himself"

1951, p.

160). Taylor

and Glenn 1976)

have

criticized heex-

1233



5/32

AmericanJournal f Sociology

changeperspective,

owever, ontending

hat he

unequal

distribution

f

informationnd the variation

n

men's preferencesmake

marital ex-

changemore

of a barter han a market

conomy. ndeed,

Waller,despite

his seminal contributions

o the exchange perspective,

ecognized

he

importance f shared cultural esources

n

enabling

men and womento

developtheintimacy equired

for

relationships

o

ripen

nto

marriage.

Common

nterests

ive

couples

"an

area

of

rapport,

common niverse

of

discourse r arena of nteraction"

Waller

and

Hill

1951,

pp. 176-77).

From the exchangeperspective,

hen,marriage s seen

as a market o

which

potentialpartners

ringfungible esources

hat determine

heir

respective market positions. In contrast, n this second "matching

model,"

marital election s seen as a process whereby artnersmatch

cultural esources o create a common niverse f discourse

r arena of

interaction." y distinguishingtatus nd class

in

the manner

uggested

above, we can address

the ssues

raised by

earlierwork

more

ffectively

than

can

researchers

ho

rely olely n measures

f "market osition" s

proxies or he cultural

imilarityf mates.

In

the following ection,

we develop more fully he theoreticalrgu-

ment hat status,distinct rom lass position,

an

be

understoods par-

ticipationna status ulture hat mergesnface-to-facenteraction.he

third

and

fourth ections

describe the resultsof our

empiricalwork,

which

follows rom

nd lendscredibilityo

the

theoretical rgument.

STATUS

IN ADVANCED

MARKET

ECONOMIES

In

his essay on class, status,

nd party,Weber [1922] 1968)provides

crisp analytical

distinction etween tatus and class

but

hedgeson two

critical oints: herelational

tructure

f statusgroups,

nd theempirical

association fclass and status.

Concerning

he

first,

e writes:

In

contrast o

classes,

Stande (status

groups) re normally roups.

They are, however, ften f an amorphous

kind" (p. 932). The contemporaryeader is uncertain

whether hese

"groups" redensely nterconnectedliques,morediffuse

circles," r yet

more

'amorphous"

nd

ultimately

nbounded ocial networks.

In

his discussions f the

ink between lass and status,Weberdisplays

appropriate

nd characteristic

iscretion, oting

hat

while

tatushonor

need not

necessarily

e

linked with a class situation" nd

"normally

stands nsharpopposition othepretensionsfsheerproperty,.. today

the class

situation s

by

far

the

predominant

actor"

n

the

formation f

status

groups p. 932).

In

ideal typical erms, hen,

Weber onceives f tatusgroups s tightly

bounded collectivities

ending

oward

monopolistic

losure

of

material

and cultural

pportunities

hrough

ules

governingwnership

f

prop-

1234



6/32

Cultural

Capital

erty, ccupancyof jobs, maritalchoice, and social interaction. nder

such

conditions,

lass is

tightly ound to status-groupmembership, e-

cause mostdesirable pportunitiesor xchange redominated y status

groups.

But markets nd status ystems re competitiveorms f social organi-

zation.

The

relationship

etween he

wo s historically

pecific:

conomic

development

nd

technological hange tend to erode statusboundaries

and

push

class

to the fore,whereas conomic tagnationncourages he

dominance

f

statusover class.

Thus Weber acknowledges hat, in marketeconomies,particularly

thosecharacterized y rapid economic nd technological hange, tatus

operates

somewhat

differentlyromwhat his ideal type suggests.We

would extendhis

argument o suggest hat,

n

rapidly

hanging

market

economies such as the United States during he pastcentury),a) status

groups tend to become amorphous nd extendednetworks nstead of

cliquesor circles nd (b) therelationship etween tatus

nd class tends o

be relativelyoose.

The reasonsfor his oose coupling re many,but

each is linked o the

expansion

of

national and internationalmarkets nd

to technological

development.They includean increasingly omplexsocial division of

labor, expanded geographicmobility,ncreases n

scale and availability

of

transportation

nd

communications

media, urbanization,

ncreased

levels

of education, and the relativedecline

n

the

importance f the

extended

amily o the fortunes f members f the middle lass

(Sorokin

1959, p. 187; Collins 1975, pp. 210-14).

Under

these

conditions:

1.

Individual-social etworks, articularly

middle-class etworks,

e-

come

arger,

ess

dense and

multiplex,

nd morediffuse.

Fischer 1982]

notesthat these qualities are more characteristicfurban than of rural

and

of

upper-middle-class

han of

working-classriendship

etworks

n

the

contemporary nited States.)

2.

Individualsface increased egregation faudiences

n

everyday

n-

teractions.

mpressionmanagementGoffman 959),

based on

the

manip-

ulation of

role-specificodes

and

codes specific o speech communities

(Bernstein 971), replaces

the

role played

n

more

tightly

ounded com-

munities,

where

tatus

nhered n

social positions, ymastery f a con-

stant

ocial identity.

3. Statusthusbecomes essreducible oposition rgroupmembership

and

becomesmore cultural

rocess Collins 1981)

enacted

n the

course

of face-to-facencounters

n

relatively

iffuse ocial networks.

he abil-

ity

to

participate

n

a status

culture

s a culturalresource

hat

permits

actors

to

get

ahead

by managing mpressions,

eveloping ositive

ocal

reputations, mpressing atekeepers, nd constructingocial

networks

1235



7/32

AmericanJournal

fSociology

thatmay

be

useful

n

educational,marital, nd occupational

ttainment

(Granovetter 982;

Lin, Ensel, and Vaughn 1981).

The

ability

o

partici-

pate

in

a prestigioustatusculture,

hen, nables ndividuals o survive

what Cicourel 1981)

calls "theroutine ssessment

f social

competence"

and to sustain

relationshipswith those

in

control

f the allocation of

rewards hatconstitutes

he stratification

rocess. See also Collins 1975;

1979, p. 58; 1981.)

MEASURES AND

DATA

First, et us consider ur measureof cultural apital. f,inmodernmar-

ket ocieties, ultural

apital s only

oosely oupled o classposition, rom

wheredo prestigioustatuscultures

ome? We believethatthey

re his-

torically rounded

n

the classification rojects

of relatively ounded

statusgroups.

By "classification rojects,"we

mean the collective fforts

by membersof

emergent tatus groups to

define

nd

institutionalize

specific ulturalelements s prestigious

nd

sacred. DiMaggio (1982b,

1982c) has documentedhow the

Boston Brahmins,

between 1870 and

1910, defined

he elements f an artisticnd musical

high ulture, evel-

oped an ideology sanctifyinghat culture, nd created nstitutions o

perpetuate

t. Tuchman

(1982),

Weber (1976),

and Wolff

1982)

have

identifiedimilar

ffortsnthefields fmusic, rt, nd

letters

n

England

and on the

Continent

uring he 19th entury.3

Although hestatusgroups hat

provided he structural

asis for his

status ulture ave

become

morediffuse

as

defined

y

higher

ates fout-

marriage,

more diverse

and less

potent ocializing

nstitutions,

nd

in-

creased social interaction

with

economic

parvenus),

the status culture

that

they

codified

etains ts interactional otencyfor

several reasons.

First, t has becomea significant artof the formal ducational ystem

and, through

that

system,

has

been

diffused,

s a cultural

model,

throughout

he class

structure.

econd,

it is

preserved

hrough

tatus

emulation

ymany

members

fthemiddle

lass,

who have adopted

both

the cultural radition nd the deology

hat egitimatest. Third, nterest

in

and familiarity

ith high culture

re still relatedto class position,

albeit

mperfectly.

he

college

educated are more ikely

han

those

with

lesseducation o attend rts events,

nd professionals

re more ikely o

attend hanblue-collarworkers

DiMaggio

and

Useem 1978). Low

corre-

3 Althoughur nterest

n

the ontent fprestigious

tatus ultureseads

us to empha-

sizethe ultural rojectsfdominanttatus roups

n this ection, e should

lsonote

anothermportantulturalhangeduring

hepast century:lass and ethnicity

ave

become eparated s

substantial umbers fthedescendantsf eastern

nd southern

European mmigrants

ave entered hemiddle

lass. Alongwith his, hepower nd

prevalence f distinctively

orking-classultures ave been ignificantly

roded.

1236



8/32

CulturalCapital

lationsbetween

ultural articipationnd

demographic

measures

esult,

in

part,from he

fact hatonly minorityf thosegroupsmost ikely

o

participate

ctuallydo so.) Finally,high-culture

ctivities

equiringd-

vanced levels of

sophisticatione.g., appreciating he

avant-garde)

r

involving he

exercise f nfluencee.g., trusteeshipsfmajorarts nstitu-

tions) re still

primarily ominated y occupants fhigh lass positions,

as defined

y

ncome, ducation,

nd

occupational ttainment.4

Data used nthis

tudy re from ,427men nd

1,479womenwho

were

surveyed

n

1960,

when

theywere

n

theeleventh

rade,

nd

resurveyed

in 1971 by Project

Talent. The Talent survey s

unique n the range of

questions tudentswere askedabout their ttitudesoward, ctivities n,

and

knowledge bouthighculture.The sample

used here s a weighted

cross ection f

whitemen and womenwho were ntheeleventh rade

n

U.S.

high schools

n

1960.

(For

more detailed

discussion f

the Talent

data,

see

Jencks t al. 1979; Jencks, rouse, and

Mueser 1983.)

Scores

forcultural

apital range from

ero

to

4.39

formen and

from

zero to 4.18 for

women,

based

on separatefactor nalysesfor

men

and

women of 16

measuresof high- nd other ultural

ttitudes, ctivities,

and

information.

These measureswere taken at

the timeof the nitial

surveyn 1960.) Formen,variables oadingmore han 35 on thecultural

capital

factor

nclude nterest

n

attendingymphony

oncerts, xperience

performingn stageoutside

of school ettings, ttendance t arts

events,

and

having "cultivated

elf-image."The latter s therespondent'score

on a

Talent-developed cale, based on such self-evaluationtems s

"I

enjoy

beautiful

hings"

nd

"I

am a cultured

erson.")

For

women,

vari-

ables

loadinghigh

on

cultural apital nclude ll those istedformen as

well as a self-report

f iteratureeading.Male andfemale ultural apital

scores

re

converted

o z-scores

n

the analysesreported elowtoensure

comparabilityfresults ormen and women.

The

manner

n

which

he cultural apital scalewas developed nd the

rationale or ts nterpretationre discussed t

length lsewhere DiMag-

gio 1982a).

Althoughwe would like to have data

on otherprestigious

cultural

esources,

we

believe that nterest

n

and

familiarity ith radi-

tional

high-cultureorms re

the mostgeneral omponents f the domi-

nant

American

tatus ulture nd the ones most

broadly alient nd least

limited

o persons

of a certain ge or region.Analysesreported arlier

(DiMaggio 1982a) indicatethat this scale is not

simply proxy orun-

4For a morecomplete

development f

this

rgument, ee

DiMaggio and

Useem (1982).

Because we

are concerned n

this

paper withthe

stratification

rocess n general

and

not

simplythe upper

reaches

of it, our

measures of

interest n and

involvement

with

"high culture"

gauge

modest levels of

commitment

n

which

there

is

likely

to

be

significant ariation.

n terms

f Gans's

typology f

cultural tratification

1974),

these

measures tap

"upper-middle"-

ather han

"high"-culturalnvolvement.

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AmericanJournal

f Sociology

measured

cademic

ability because

its effect

n performance

n

mathe-

matics

s less than tseffect

n performance

n more

humanistic

ubjects),

for reativitybecause

participation

n less prestigious,rt-making

ctivi-

tieshad

no effect n students' rades), r

for

pecific nowledge

because

scores

on a battery

f arts achievement

estshad no independent

mpact

on

grades

once general bility

was controlled).

ote

thatcultural apital

would seemto

measure elf-presentation

nd self-images

much s actual

expertise

n

high-culture

ields.We believe

thatthis

measureof

cultural

capital

s the best one available and

that t

s

satisfactory

or

he

explor-

atory

purposesof the

research

eported ere.

The principal

esult f

ts

imperfectionsill be to bias itsobserved ffects ownward.

Let us now

turn to

a discussionof the

othervariables

used in

the

analyses

reported

elow (see

Appendix).

Father'seducation

s father's

years

of

formal ducation,

based on recoding f categorical

measures

(e.g.,

high choolgraduate,

omecollege,

ome

graduate

chool).

Father's

occupational

restiges theDuncan

score

for ather'sccupation

n

1960.

Grades

in

English and

in

mathematics

re six-point

cales (from

less

thanDs" through

all As") based

on student elf-reports.

eneral bility

is a

Talent-generated

omposite

f results

n a series f achievement

nd

ability eststhatbehaves similarly o other estsof student bility see

Jencks

t al.

1979).

"Frequency

fTalk

about FuturePlans"

s a scale

ranging rom ero

to

18.

Respondents

wereasked

how many

timestheyhad discussed

their

"plans

for after

high school"

with variouspeople.

Our

measure s an

additive

cale based on the number f times hey

eported aving

these

conversations

ith

their eachers,

choolcounselors,

nd peers.

Outcome

measuresfrom he

Talent

11-year ollow-up

ncludeeduca-

tional ttainment

n

1971,

years

of education f the

respondent's

pouse,

and dichotomousmeasures ndicatingwhether rnot therespondenta)

attendedcollege,

b)

completed ollege,

and (c) received

any graduate

training.

FINDINGS

Results

are

reported

s follows:First,

for all male

and femalerespon-

dents,we report

he mpactof

father's ducation,

father's

ccupational

prestige,

measured

ability,high

school

grades, and cultural

apital

on

educational ttainmentnd college ttendance.5 econd,for ll menand

s Father's ducation s used as the only

ducational ontrol orfamily ackground

because

t

s muchmore tronglyelated

o cultural apital ormen and only lightly

less tronglyssociated

orwomen) han

mother'sducation. lso,we expect tto

be a

better roxy

ffamily ultural limate han mother's ducation.We acknowledge

others' indings

hatmother'sducational

ttainments a better redictorf

educa-

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Cultural

Capital

women with

one or more years

of

college, we estimate

he

effects f

father's

ducation;father's

ccupationalprestige;measured

bility; nd

cultural apital on collegecompletion, raduateeducation, nd educa-

tional

ttainment.

inally,for ll

marriedmenand

women,

we assess the

effects

f generalability,

ultural

apital, and

own

educational ttain-

ment n whom

one

marries, s measured

byspouse's

educational

ttain-

ment.

n eachcase,

separate

nalyses fthefull

ampleof

respondents f

each

gender re

followedby

disaggregated nalyses

n

orderto testfor

interactions.6

Note

that we

do not

attempt

o estimate

complete

model

of

the

processes feducational ttainment nd marital electionwhichwould

requirenclusion

f a

broader angeof

backgroundnd

school

variables)

or

of the role

of

status-culture

articipation

n

these

processes which

would

require richer nd

more

direct etof

measures f severaldimen-

sionsof status-culture

articipation).We

attempt

nly o assess the xtent

and nature

fthe

mpact

f

a singledimension

f

tatus-culture

articipa-

tion-familiarity

with

nd interest

n

high

ulture-on aspectsof educa-

tional

attainment nd

marital

election.Our focus

here,

then,

s on the

effects

nd

significancef cultural

apital

rather han

on

the

parameters

of themodel as a whole.

EDUCATIONAL

ATTAINMENT AND

COLLEGE

ATTENDANCE

Hypotheses

First, we shall

consider

wo vital

aspects of the

stratification

rocess:

educational

attainment,which all

studies

show

to

have a

substantial

effect

n

occupational

attainment,

nd

college

attendance,

crucial

threshold

ncreasingly equired or uccess

n

the

worldof work

Collins

1971; Faia 1981).

HYPOTHESIS 1:

Cultural

apital

has a positivenet

ffect n educational

attainment nd

college

attendance

ormen and

women.

tional attainment orwomen than father's Sewell et al. 1980) and that mother's home

inputs" re more mportant or he educational achievement f youngchildren but not

adolescents)

than fathers'

Leibowitz 1974b; Mercy

and

Steelman 1982; Murnane,

Maynard, and Ohls 1981). In the absence of definitive ata, however, we expect that

"cultured"women of the

generation f the Talent sample's parentswere more ikely o

marrywell-educated men than to pursue educational credentialsthemselves. Conse-

quently,

we

suspect

that father's

education

is as

good

a

proxy

measure of mother's

status-culture articipation

s mother's

ducation itself.

6

We

undertake

eparate analyses

formen and women

in

all cases

in the

ight

of other

studies reporting ifferences

n

the stratification rocess by gender Sewell and Shah

1967; Alexander and Eckland 1974; Featherman and Hauser 1976; Sewell

et al.

1980).

DiMaggio (1982a) found variation between men and women

of different

amilyback-

grounds n the effects f cultural capital on high school grades.

1239



11/32

American

Journal

f

Sociology

Cultural apital s expected o affect tudents' ducational ttainments

and their ikelihoodof

attending ollege significantlyy (a) increasing

their pportunities

or

pecialhelp from eachers

nd other

gatekeepers,

(b) permittinghem o develop

generalized eputations s "cultured er-

sons,"

and

(c) facilitating

ccess

to

social milieus

n

which education

s

valued and in which nformation

bout educational pportunities

s avail-

able. (Cultural apital s also expected o have a positive, ndirect

mpact

on

educational attainment nd

college

attendance

hrough

ts

positive

effect n

high

chool

grades.)

DiMaggio 1982a) reported ignificantffectsfcultural apitalon

high

school grades. Bourdieu (1977a) treatsculturalcapital as cumulative,

arguingthat the greater he early endowment,

he

easier the

further

acquisition.

t

is

possible,

of course, that individuals are sufficiently

plastic hatthe effects f this

measurewould not persist nto arly

dult-

hood. Nevertheless, e predict ersistentffects

n

the ongitudinal

nal-

yses reported

ere.

HYPOTHESIS 2: Culturalcapital

has similar ffects n the educational

attainment nd collegeattendance f men and of women.

Otherresearchers ave

reported

hatwomen

rely

n

ascriptive

harac-

teristicse. g., father's ducation) in educationalattainment,whereas

men's educational attainment

s more dependenton measured ability

(Alexander nd Eckland 1974; Sewell, Hauser, and Wolf 1980).

We do

not know whether his s truebecause women are judged more on

the

basis oftheir

selves"

thanon

their ask-specificerformancediffuseness

vs.

specificity,

n

Parsonian

erms)

r

because women ucceedon thebasis

of

the

resources nd

reputations

f

theirfamilies nstead of

their

own

(ascription

s.

achievement).

f

the former

s

true,

we would

expect

ul-

tural

capital-an

achieved

but

diffusely

elevant

ttribute f the social

self-to have greater ffectsorwomen hanformen. fthe atters,we

would

expect

heeffects f cultural apital to be about equal for

menand

women.

HYPOTHESIS

3: The net mpact

of cultural apital on educational

t-

tainmentand

college

attendance

is

greater for daughters

of

high-

education

men than

for

daughters

f ow-educationmen.

HYPOTHESIS : The net mpact

of cultural apital on educational

t-

tainment nd

college

ttendance

s

greater

or ons of ow-education

men

than for ons of

high-education

en.

Bourdieu 1977b) has arguedthat forFrance)theefficacyf cultural

interests s

dependenton

the

background f theirpossessor nd

that

individuals

f higher lass position ossess

a more uthentic elationship

to

culture han

those

n

less

privileged

roups.

n this

ultural

eproduc-

tion

view,

a

positive

nteraction etweenfamily ackground

measures

and

cultural

capital is expected.

DiMaggio (1982a),

in a

study

of

the

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12/32

Cultural

Capital

effects f

cultural apital

on

high

chool

grades,

found ome

support

or

this view for

women's achievement.But

he

also

found

hat,

for

boys,

culturalcapital had its strongest

mpact

on

grades

for sons of

least

educatedmen.

He

interpretedhis s an indication hat

he

cquisition

f

cultural

apital s, for oys,

n

aspectof nticipatory

ocializationnto

he

middle class. In

this culturalmobility

model, then,

we would

expecta

negative

nteraction etweenbackgroundmeasures nd cultural

apital

in

predictingducational ttainment.7

HYPOTHESIS

: Culturalcapital has a positivenet effect n

conversa-

tions about future lans with

teachers, ounselors,

nd

peers

for both

men and women.

Recall thatwe

argue

hat

ultural apital ssists tudents y

facilitating

interaction

with high-status thers,

consequently ncreasing he

fre-

quency

of

such

interactions.

n

the nitialTalent

survey,

tudentswere

asked

how

often

hey spoke

with others

bout

their

post-high

chool

plans. We

expect ultural apital to be

associatedwithfrequencyf con-

versationwith

teachers nd school

counselors bout

future

lans. Also,

because we anticipate ultural apital

to facilitate articipation

n

student

milieus hat

value education,we

expect t to be positivelyssociatedwith

frequency fsuch conversations ithpeers.

Results

Resultsof

OLS regression nalysisfor he

full

male and female

amples

are

displayed

n

table 1.

Distributions n the

binary

ariableswere

split

fairly venly, nd

logisticregressionnalysesyieldedresults hat were

substantively

dentical

o

the

OLS

findings. onsequently,

e

present

he

OLS

results ere

n

the nterest f

comparability

nd

simplicity

f

presen-

tation see Cohen and Cohen 1975).

Cultural

capital

has

a strongly

ignificantP

DiMAGGIO MOHR Cultural Capital Educational Attainment And Marital Selection

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