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Elite Higher Education Admissions in the Arts and Sciences: Is Cultural Capital the Key?

University of Manchester, anna.zimdars{at}manchester.ac.uk

Alice Sullivan

University of London, A.Sullivan{at}ioe.ac.uk

Anthony Heath

University of Oxford, anthony.health{at}nuffield.ox.ac.uk

This article examines the extent to which cultural capital helps to explain the link between social background and gaining an offer for study at the University of Oxford. We find that cultural knowledge, rather than participation in the beaux arts, is related to admissions decisions.This effect is particularly pronounced in arts subjects. We only partly support Bourdieu's postulation of cultural capital as the main differentiator between fractions of the middle class. Measures of cultural capital do not account for the gender gap in admission and only explain a small part of the disadvantage faced by South-Asian applicants.

Key Words: cultural capital • cultural knowledge • higher education admission • private schools • quantitative methods • selective education • social stratification

Sociology, Vol. 43, No. 4, 648-666 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038509105413


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