Parental Cultural Capital

Parental cultural capital encompasses the cultural resources that parents have at their disposal to advocate for their children and promote their children's success, particularly within the school setting. Parental cultural capital is differentially allocated by social class, with middle-class parents possessing more and working-class and poor parents possessing little or none. Research has shown that parental cultural capital can positively influence children's educational outcomes, and that parental cultural capital is transmitted intergenerationally to students. Indeed, some argue that parents' cultural capital is a tool through which they can secure the future social class position of their offspring. Other researchers, however, argue that it is possible for children to use cultural capital as a way to surpass their parents' social class position.