Cultural and social capital in the academic trajectories of women scientists from different family backgrounds
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5216/sec.v28.83089Abstract
We analyze how socioeconomic and family background impacts women’s access to formal education, considering cultural, social, and economic capital as factors that facilitate or hinder their entry and trajectory in the scientific field, either mitigating or exacerbating sexism. The data, drawn from interviews with seventeen female professors at UFMG, generally confirm findings from the literature: those from families with high levels of capital did not face significant material barriers throughout their educational journeys. However, we aim to highlight how certain so-called progressive values, passed down within their families, shaped forms of cultural capital that played a key role in their educational paths, such as: i) encouragement of curiosity; ii) appreciation for formal education; and iii) subversion of stigmas associated with class origin, race, and gender.
Keywords: gender; socio-educational inequalities; family; scientists; cultural capital.
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