To read this content please select one of the options below:

Applying cultural capital and field to doctoral student socialization

Bryan Gopaul (Department of Educational Leadership, Warner School of Education and Human Development, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA)

International Journal for Researcher Development

ISSN: 2048-8696

Article publication date: 9 May 2016

333

Abstract

Purpose

Although the production of a dissertation and the transition to an independent researcher undergird the outcomes of doctoral education, this study aims to emphasize issues of inequality in doctoral study through the use of Bourdieu’s (1977, 1986) concepts of cultural capital and field.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study with 15 doctoral students in Engineering and in Philosophy revealed that activities in doctoral study that tend to socialize students possess value, given the conventions of various contexts or social spaces related to academe.

Findings

Doctoral students who attain particular accomplishments experience doctoral study in ways that suggest that doctoral study is a system of conventions and norms that imbue particular activities with value, which then impact students’ doctoral education experiences.

Originality/value

Inequality is tied to students’ portfolio of achievements, as the value of these achievements suggests differential socialization experiences, such that different students learn about the norms and practices within doctoral study in different ways.

Keywords

Citation

Gopaul, B. (2016), "Applying cultural capital and field to doctoral student socialization", International Journal for Researcher Development, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 46-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRD-03-2015-0009

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles