Capital and opportunity

Abstract

This study used the theory of Pierre Bourdieu to investigate what types of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital influenced the individual academic achievement and personal life trajectories of two, female, high school students identified as at-risk. The critical ethnography collected data from classroom observations, critical dialogues and discussions between the researcher and participants over a four month period in a high school in the Midwest. The qualitative study produced a description of the types of capital that influenced each participant's personal life and academic achievement as situated within each participant's specific sociocultural scenario. The study critiqued the use of Bourdieu's theories for a study of students at-risk and produced findings which correlated each Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. type of capital to each participant's academic achievement and personal life trajectory. The study concluded that (a) criteria for the label "at-risk" should include factors within the school as well as those outside the school, (b) schools privilege the knowledge and behaviors of some individuals over others, (c) the participants identified and used separate and distinct street and school "selves" to maximize their capital in settings inside and outside the school, and (d) school policies and practices which restrict access to certain types of information place at-risk students in a position of educational disadvantage.