The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Translating Bourdieu: cultural capital and the English middle class in historical perspective
Abstract
This article examines the ways in which Pierre Bourdieu's work on culture and cultural capital can be applied to the study of the English middle class in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Drawing on a wide historical literature, the article argues for the significance of culture as a constitutive element of middle-class identities in England since 1800. It goes on to examine Bourdieu's ideas of 'objectivated', 'instutionalized' and 'incorporated' cultural capital, in the context of family, inheritance, education and the body. The article identifies changes in the historical forms which cultural capital has taken and emphasizes the importance of analysing family processes of intergenerational transmission.
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Cites
Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.
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The State Nobility: Elite Schools in the Field of Power
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City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London
Walkowitz, J. R. (1992) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226081014.001.0001 · Cited by 1,730
Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain, 1860–1940
Szreter, S. (1996) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511582240 · Cited by 622
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Cited by
Items 101–107 of 107
Anderson, B. (2020) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-54000-3_1
Murphy, M. G. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-78324-2_6
Chan, J., Hurst, M., Easterbrook, M. J., & Miles, E. (2025) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2025.101855
Differences in bachelor's degree attainment: Are college degrees a function of habitus?
McCaleb, C. S. (2007) · ScholarWorks - WMU (Western Michigan University)
Jackson, K. M. (2023) · Research Commons (University of Waikato)
Carr, S. (2021) · Worcester Research and Publications (University of Worcester)
de Vera, H. K., Gomez, T. M. L., Pascua, J. E., Ramones, C. J., & Astrero, M. K. (2026) · Journal of Research in Social Science and Humanities · doi:10.63593/jrssh.2026.06.09
Metadata
- Authors
- Gunn, S.
- Affiliations
- Leeds Beckett University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gunn, Simon
- ORCID
- Gunn, Simon
- Venue
- The British Journal of Sociology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-03
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 49-64
- ISSN
- 0007-1315 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4446
- OpenAlex
- W1970872504
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 19.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Sociology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Leicester Research Archive (University of Leicester) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Cultural Capital and Social Class
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Elite Sociology and Global Capitalism
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- Pierre Bourdieu, cultural capital, English middle class, middle-class identity, objectified cultural capital, institutionalized cultural capital, intergenerational transmission, family, inheritance, body, 19th century, 20th century
- MeSH terms
- Anthropology, Cultural, Culture, Education, England, Family, Social Class, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century
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