National symbolic capital in a multinational environment. An exploratory study of symbolic boundaries at a European school in Brussels

Abstract

Despite processes of Europeanisation in education aimed at reducing symbolic boundaries of nationality among Europeans, countries continue to be judged in terms of their reputation or “symbolic capital”. Based on qualitative group interviews with students at a European School in Brussels, a unique institution educating the future citizens of Europe, we investigate to what extent the symbolic capital attributed to the students’ national background shapes symbolic boundaries between them. Our results suggest that they draw symbolic boundaries in two steps. First, students classify their schoolmates according to criteria specific to youth culture, including: youth lifestyle, effortless academic achievement, cosmopolitan values and language skills. These primary categories may then be attributed to different national groups and language sections at the school. As a consequence, a status hierarchy emerges, running from Northwest-European to Eastern European students. This points to a permanence of symbolic boundaries of nationality, even in the highly Europeanised context of a European School.