Toward an Integration of Gender into Bourdieu’s Concept of Cultural Capital

Abstract

Although Bourdieu’s conceptual system can be of interest to feminists, few have used it because of its androcentrism. This paper considers McCall’s (1992) proposal to correct this androcentric bias by integrating gender distinction with the concept of cultural capital. This integration is supported by some theoretical affinities between Bourdieu’s model and Harding’s (1986) feminist approach, which relate to three elements at work in the production of social life: dichotomous symbolic structure, the organization of social activity, and schemes of subjective dispositions. Some limitations to Bourdieu’s model are considered. However, in the last part of the article, it is argued that the adaptation of Bourdieu’s model is a potentially enriching approach, and an illustration is provided with examples of gendered experiences in sport.