Roadblocks on the Way to Higher Education: Non-Dominant Cultural Capital, Race, and the “Schools are Equalizer” Myth

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is to investigate one conduit through which racial inequality is perpetuated in American schools. Using Bourdieu’s theory of capital, this chapter uses visual ethnography to examine the signage of one predominately African American high school in the Midwest. Some of the signs, which are featured photographically in the chapter, include bans on “sagging,” bans on certain slang words, an emphasis on individual accountability, and more. The chapter finds that this school works to normalize forms of cultural capital considered valuable in the White, middle to upper-middle class communities while simultaneously discrediting and preventing less dominant forms of capital. The implications of this analysis are that Black students must gain access to dominant forms of capital in order to experience success in school. Such an analysis asks leaders in higher education to: (1) recognize that high schools often negatively evaluate a student’s non-dominant cultural capital – as reflected in poor student discipline records, low achievement and attainment; (2) consider transforming the college admissions process to be more inclusive of measures of non-dominant capital; and (3) consider how to authentically value what matriculating students with non-dominant forms of capital bring to the campus.

Citation

Marcucci, O. and Elmesky, R. (2016), "Roadblocks on the Way to Higher Education: Non-Dominant Cultural Capital, Race, and the “Schools are Equalizer” Myth", The Crisis of Race in Higher Education: A Day of Discovery and Dialogue (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420160000019005