Pierre Bourdieu was a sociologist who related many of his findings and ideas to Marxism. He talked about how social order was constructed through capitalism, and that we transform and construct the world that we wanted to live in. Bourdieu talks about capitalism, as being cumulated labor. In capital there are two forms: material and embodied. Material form are things such as property, and car because they are easily tangible. Embodied form in the other case are things that cannot be tangible such as culture and networks.
Bourdieu also talked about the three forms of capital as being: economic, culture and social. The economic form of capital is the root of the other 3 capitals, since economy forms everything. Cultural capital is the knowledge that is gained through experience. Family views and values are embodied in this form. Social capital has to be legitimate and real, also it has to have the potential of capitalism.
As one of the examples that we talked about that goes with the idea of cultural capital is the movie seen from Fast and Furious, when the actor of Paul Walker has to fit in with the rest of the guys that race cars for pink slips (Car titles). He cannot just enter the racing world and everyone will respect him. He has to gain power and respect, and have credentials in order to fit in. He crashed a couple car’s in order to become a better drive and gain more respect and power. An example that caught my attention that relates to cultural capital is from a NBC television show called “Life”, that aired from 2007-2009. In this show a detective by the name of Charlie Crews is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving 12 years for a triple murder of his friend’s family that he was wrongfully convicted off. So when he is realeased from prison due to DNA found at the scene not matching to him, he sued LAPD and also the City of Los Angeles for 50$ million.
So with all this new money he buys himself a mansion and a car. Since he was away for so long he doesn’t know how to use many things that “ordinary” people might do in their sleep. One thing that he does that other people around him have already learned and have embodied is your cell phone is connected to you car Bluetooth if you have it on. So in the first show, his phone is ringing throughout the whole car but he doesn’t know what is going on nor how to turn it off. So he throws his phone out the window and it stopped ringing after it lost Bluetooth connect. But, after he learns how to use a phone and how to use the system in his car from his partner Reese, he adapts to the “real world”. Another example from this show is since Charlie Crews was locked up for 12 years and at first his wife taught that he killed that family of three, she divorced him. So now since he’s free and single, he has to learn how to love a girl again. So he starts brining girls home, new one every night. But, the people around him, try influencing him that he should stick to one girl.
Another clip from the show Life, that relates to the Fast and Furious example that we discussed in class, but over all relates to Bourdieu’s idea of cultural capital is after Detectives Reese and Crews find the killer of a young boy (the boys father is in prison), they take the guy to prison and start telling all the other inmates that he killed a kid, and they especially make sure the boys father hears it as well. Detective Crews knows how to use the technique of intimating people who have committed crimes against children because he himself was in prison for 12 years and he knows what they do to child molesters or killers. If Charlie Crews was not ever in prison, he would not have learned these techniques, also what they do to these people who hurt kids, and he wouldn’t know the boys father if he didn’t live in that world ( prison) himself.
In conclusion Pierre Bourdieu had many interesting ideas and theories about the world in a capitalist way. He trended both the subjectivist and objectivist views, in which one we create the world, and in the other the world was created before us. Bourdieu thought capital was either in a material form or an embodied form. He also layer out three different types of capital, the root of capital was economy followed by culture (education) and social (title of mobility). Also as mentioned above, there were many examples about cultural capital in a television show that is now canceled called “ Life”, such as when Detective Charlie Crews does not know how to use a cell phone on the beginning due to coming from a world in which cell phones were illegal to have (prison).
Bourdieu also talked about the three forms of capital as being: economic, culture and social. The economic form of capital is the root of the other 3 capitals, since economy forms everything. Cultural capital is the knowledge that is gained through experience. Family views and values are embodied in this form. Social capital has to be legitimate and real, also it has to have the potential of capitalism.
As one of the examples that we talked about that goes with the idea of cultural capital is the movie seen from Fast and Furious, when the actor of Paul Walker has to fit in with the rest of the guys that race cars for pink slips (Car titles). He cannot just enter the racing world and everyone will respect him. He has to gain power and respect, and have credentials in order to fit in. He crashed a couple car’s in order to become a better drive and gain more respect and power. An example that caught my attention that relates to cultural capital is from a NBC television show called “Life”, that aired from 2007-2009. In this show a detective by the name of Charlie Crews is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving 12 years for a triple murder of his friend’s family that he was wrongfully convicted off. So when he is realeased from prison due to DNA found at the scene not matching to him, he sued LAPD and also the City of Los Angeles for 50$ million.
So with all this new money he buys himself a mansion and a car. Since he was away for so long he doesn’t know how to use many things that “ordinary” people might do in their sleep. One thing that he does that other people around him have already learned and have embodied is your cell phone is connected to you car Bluetooth if you have it on. So in the first show, his phone is ringing throughout the whole car but he doesn’t know what is going on nor how to turn it off. So he throws his phone out the window and it stopped ringing after it lost Bluetooth connect. But, after he learns how to use a phone and how to use the system in his car from his partner Reese, he adapts to the “real world”. Another example from this show is since Charlie Crews was locked up for 12 years and at first his wife taught that he killed that family of three, she divorced him. So now since he’s free and single, he has to learn how to love a girl again. So he starts brining girls home, new one every night. But, the people around him, try influencing him that he should stick to one girl.
Another clip from the show Life, that relates to the Fast and Furious example that we discussed in class, but over all relates to Bourdieu’s idea of cultural capital is after Detectives Reese and Crews find the killer of a young boy (the boys father is in prison), they take the guy to prison and start telling all the other inmates that he killed a kid, and they especially make sure the boys father hears it as well. Detective Crews knows how to use the technique of intimating people who have committed crimes against children because he himself was in prison for 12 years and he knows what they do to child molesters or killers. If Charlie Crews was not ever in prison, he would not have learned these techniques, also what they do to these people who hurt kids, and he wouldn’t know the boys father if he didn’t live in that world ( prison) himself.
In conclusion Pierre Bourdieu had many interesting ideas and theories about the world in a capitalist way. He trended both the subjectivist and objectivist views, in which one we create the world, and in the other the world was created before us. Bourdieu thought capital was either in a material form or an embodied form. He also layer out three different types of capital, the root of capital was economy followed by culture (education) and social (title of mobility). Also as mentioned above, there were many examples about cultural capital in a television show that is now canceled called “ Life”, such as when Detective Charlie Crews does not know how to use a cell phone on the beginning due to coming from a world in which cell phones were illegal to have (prison).