The Back Pocket Map: Social Class and Cultural Capital as Transferable Assets in the Advancement of Second-Generation Immigrants

Patricia Fernández-Kelly
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Patricia Fernández-Kelly: Department and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2008, vol. 620, issue 1, 116-137

Abstract: This article moves beyond current understandings of family- and school-related dynamics used to explain the educational and occupational success of low-income immigrant children to investigate the role of cultural capital acquired in the country of origin. Class-related forms of knowledge obtained prior to migration can become invaluable assets in areas of destination through the realization of what Pierre Boutdieu calls habitus , that is, a series of embodied dispositions deployed by individuals in their pursuit of set objectives. Although the concept has attracted prolonged attention, the mechanisms by which the habitus is fulfilled remain unspecified. Here, the author proposes and examines three of those mechanisms: (1) cognitive correspondence, (2) positive emulation, and (3) active recollection. This study shows that class-related resources, such as education, self-definition, and remembrance of nation and ancestry play an important function, shaping youthful expectations and behaviors, and protecting the children of low-income immigrants from downward mobility.

Keywords: immigrant children; cultural capital; social class; cognitive correspondence; positive emulation; active recollection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:620:y:2008:i:1:p:116-137

DOI: 10.1177/0002716208322580

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