Abstract

Scholars question whether cultural capital reproduces existing inequalities or leads to upward mobility. While families provide opportunities to increase cultural capital, schools value and reward cultural capital. Thus, adolescents need to obtain cultural capital through their families to be able to navigate the education system. However, most research does not provide causal evidence of cultural capital acquisition and lacks clarity about how disadvantaged adolescents might increase cultural capital. We hypothesize that adolescents may increase cultural capital through social capital access and exposure – their ties to and meeting frequency with other important adults knowledgeable about the education system. Using data from a randomized control trial on mentoring relationships, we find that high levels of social capital positively affect cultural capital, but only for otherwise disadvantaged adolescents with parents who have some college experience. Our findings suggest cultural capital may be a more limited engine of mobility if disadvantaged adolescents from less educated households cannot acquire or increase their cultural capital.