A communication and instruction approach to embodied cultural and social capital at a public, 4-year university

ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore how students identify and navigate the social structure of higher education and how, in doing so, they communicatively (re)produce socializing norms. To this end, we draw upon the work of the late educational sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to outline a critical communication pedagogical understanding of institutional socialization at a public, 4-year university. We conducted focus groups with 36 college students to understand their perceptions of (in)appropriate communicative behaviors, norms, and attitudes in higher education. We then discuss the importance of their perceptions of social and cultural capital, connect their ascriptions to the (re)production of existing social relationships, and advocate for a renewed focus on seemingly innocuous communication and instruction concepts and variables in light of our findings. Finally, we offer ways for instructors to intervene into the socialization process by making the culture of power visible to all educational participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Bourdieu
• social capital
• cultural capital
• critical communication pedagogy
• organizational communication

Acknowledgements

The author C. Kyle Rudick would like to thank Carissa Froyum for her comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

C. Kyle Rudick (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University) is an associate professor at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50613.

Fernando Ismael Quiñones Valdivia (M.A., University of Northern Iowa) is a doctoral student at Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802.

Lexi Hudachek and Jackson Specker are M.A. graduates of the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50613.

Alan K. Goodboy is a professor at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506.

Notes

1 This drive is particularly true for STEM careers, where students are encouraged to go into engineering or related fields based on their return on investment (see Humphreys & Kelly, 2014).

2 The citation for the institution’s demographic information was not included to protect confidentiality.