This week I focused on gathering theoretic material for making our own sociological TikToks. So far, Kyle and I have agreed to make 6 total TikToks, and I summarized some material for two of them. Obviously, TikToks must be accessible to a general audience with no prior knowledge in sociology, so I will edit this material to use less academic language and make it more digestible.
Bourdieu’s Cultural capital and Anthony Jack’s Privileged Poor
Cultural capital – “familiarity with the legitimate culture within a society;” a collection of skills and knowledges such as tastes, posture, behavior, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc. that one acquires through being part of a particular social class. Sharing similar forms of cultural capital with others creates a sense of collective identity and group position and contributes to the reproduction of existing social classes. Certain forms of cultural capital are valued more over others, and can help or hinder one’s social mobility just as much as income or wealth.
For example! Anthony Jack’s Privileged Poor
- Elite higher education setting
- “The children of middle- and upper-class parents are seen as having an advantage when they get to college because the norms they learned at home are the same ones that govern campus life – norms such as looking someone in the eye while giving a firm handshake, feeling entitled to adults’ time, and being proactive in forging relationships with authority figures.” (p. 19)
- “Lower-income graduates from these schools [exclusive preparatory high schools] enter college already accustomed to navigating elite academic arenas, already familiar with the ways and customs of the rich. True, they are poor, but they have the privilege of an early introduction to the world they will enter in college. I call this group of students the Privileged Poor.” (p. 11)
- “Then there is the other half of lower-income black students at elite colleges. This group of students enters college from exactly where most people would expect: local, neighborhood schools that are often distressed, overcrowded, and under-resourced. When they first set foot on an elite college campus, it looks, feels, and functions like nothing they have experienced before. I call these students, who are both poor and unfamiliar with this new world, the Doubly DIsadvantaged.” (p. 11)
Warikoo’s Diversity Bargain
What do students in elite universities really think about affirmative action and the mission for diversity?
Diversity frame – most students recognize the racial and ethnic differences on campus and regard diversity positively as it enriches their college experience.
Unintended consequence: socioeconomically privileged white students support their schools’ diversity missions on the basis of a ‘diversity bargain.’ They tolerate affirmative action and multiculturalism policies, as the presence of ethnic minority students is regarded as a resource they’re entitled to benefit from, which can also lead to them feeling wrongfully deprived of such benefits if ethnic minority students don’t fully ‘integrate.”
Moreover, white students support diversity-enhancing practices as long as they don’t challenge their own chances of obtaining prized resources such as college awards or positions and future internships and graduate jobs. When they perceive affirmative action as a threat to their rightful claims to these prizes, the rhetoric of “reverse racism” emerges.
To summarize, white students subscribe to affirmative action as a personally beneficial resource which must not come at any personal cost.
My next steps will be to revise the script to make it more digestible with less academic language and to begin recording TikTok videos.