Cultural Capital: Definition and Importance in Non-Profit Organizations

By Mohammed Almahmoud and Richard Rozewski Jr.

August 11, 2011

Defining cultural capital in nonprofit organization, as well as any other type of organizations, there are two main challenges: first, defining the word “culture”, and second, separating “cultural capital” from “social capital”.

The word “culture” is defined by David Throsby, states in his article “Cultural Capital”, as “an essential element of culture in both functional and constituent senses is its role as an expression of group or collective aspects of people’s behavior, as demonstrated in their activities and belief systems.” (6, Throsby)

At the “The Forms of Capital”, Bourdieu argues that cultural capital “exists in three forms: in an embodied state, i.e., as a long-lasting disposition of the individuals mind and body; in an objectified state, when cultural capital is turned into cultural goods such as “pictures, books, dictionaries, instruments, machines, etc.” (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 243); and in an institutionalized state, when the embodied cultural capital is recognized in the form of, say, an academic credential. For Bourdieu, the embodied state is the most important. He notes that “most of the properties of cultural capital can be deduced from the fact that, in its fundamental state, it is linked to the body and presupposes embodiment” (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 244).

In defining cultural capital, the definition of organizational social capital overlaps, or even includes, the organizational cultural capital. In an article titled “Organizational Social Capital and Nonprofits” by Anne Schneider from George Washington University, Schneider arguers that “organizational social capital refers to “established, trust based networks among organizations or communities supporting a particular nonprofit, that an organization can use to further its goals. Thus although individuals such as key staff, board members, or other volunteers may enhance an organization’s social capital, organizational social capital can be seen as existing independently of the people involved and based on that organization’s history and reputation”.(Schneider, 654) The author states that “trust is often linked to culture, behaving in ways that the network considers trustworthy. But the role of culture or norms in social capital has also led to much confusion”. She further report that “Putnam and his followers include norms in their definition of social capital, but understand norms differently in various contexts. The discussion of generalized community-wide social capital tends to suggest community-wide norms”.(Schneider, 650) It is important to note that norms are an essential component of cultural capital.

Cultural capital is defined by Kilbride as community and their ability to utilize the experience of becoming proficient and familiar with dominant cultural codes and practices.  The definition that Kilbride creates and is used in Gina Wiesblat’s introduction of her research and is linked to previous research started by Pierre Boudrieu.  Bourdieu investigates notions of capital over a timeline as well as in different geographic regions.  He produces the idea of cultural capital with no strict definition which is the inherent part of our research.  Specifically linked to nonprofits, cultural capital is examined under the framework of Bourdieu via Dimaggio with a conclusion similar to Bourdieus, it is hard to measure a field that is so broad and one that is effected by so many influences.

The inconclusiveness the research in this field leaves me skeptical of the validity of Kilbride’s claim.  Skeptical but intrigued, we can find clarity in unpacking the perceived results of ‘cultural capital’; an example of cultural capital might be that one has greater capacity as a result of the culture they ascribe to: a Jewish person is connected to the Jewish community and offers the capital or assets (fiscally and socially speaking), where as a person that is not directly affiliated with that culture might not have the same access.  At “The Sage dictionary of cultural studies”, Chris Barker distinguishes cultural capital from economic and social capital. He states “Cultural capital is distinguished from economic capital (wealth) and social capital (whom you know)”. This distinction might provide another example as the idea that a person who works in a specific institution, such as John Carroll, might be cultured and have more value or capital via the connections they have with the institution that might not be the same for an ordinary person on the street.  This is a complex notion, because to some degree we all have different cultural connections which could be perceived as cultural capital.  Access to this capital and the dispersal of that capital is somewhat abstract but is what is at the heart of this inductive look at cultural capital.  The American sociologist Paul DiMaggio can be credited with adapting and many of his major works were translated into English in the 1980s and 1990s applying Bourdieu’s cultural capital in the late 1980s and early 1990s (DiMaggio 1991). However, from the mid-1990s to the present Australian economist David Throsby has appropriated and extended the notion of cultural capital for the field of cultural economics (Throsby 2001). One of Throsby’s most important extensions of the concept is his articulation of the “investment metaphor” in relation to cultural capital that, “it can be suggested that cultural capital makes a contribution to long-term sustainability that is similar in principal to natural capital” (Throsby 2001).

So what is cultural capital? Our research defines cultural capital as a group of non-financial assets which comes from the culture of the members of an organization, the culture of an organization that evolved overtime and the consistency of the organizational culture with groups or organization that a organization interact with that generate financial and nonfinancial benefits.

The leaders of nonprofit organization can enhance the efficiency of their organization if they identify, direct  and employee cultural capital for the benefit of their organizations. identifying the cultural capital of a specific organization enable leader to conceder culture when evaluating their decision. They can expect the reaction of the members of their organization as well as the reactions of the groups that they deal with and serve.

Also, nonprofit organizations leader can direct organizational cultural capital to ensure that cultural capital will assist the organization instead of hindering organizational activities. Many decision are very connected to cultural capital and what type of culture is best for the organization. Questions like: should we have employees from one country or from many countries? from which countries should we employee? Should we create a culture that care about documentation or should our employees work mostly on trust? What mission, vision, values should our organizations embrace. After answering those question, nonprofit organization leader should decide how and use which tools can we reach our goals to create the best cultural capital for our organization.

After creating the desired cultural capital, nonprofit organization leader should employee the organization culture for the organizations benefit. Some examples include that the organization’s messages be contestant with the values of our employees, downer and receivers, leaders can consider culture when choosing the organization’s representatives, the organizations policy can state that employees are allowed to use their native language to help customers or service receivers, spreading religious awareness can help the organization gaining more loyalty from their employees and more support from downers and volunteers.

Some question that would be asked to nonprofit leader about cultural capital are: how can the culture of your organization be considered as a capital or asset? Have you spent time thinking how to take advantage of the cultural capital of your organization? How can the culture and backgrounds of the people working with you benefit the organizational activities? Can something be done to assure that the organizational culture become a liability instead of being an asset? Do you make some actions to improve the cultural capital in your organization?

Clearly, the awareness of nonprofit organization leaders of the importance of cultural capital and how it can be identified, directed  and employed in favor of the efficiency of their organization. Also, there is an extraordinary need for more research about identifying and using cultural capital. Cultural capital is a valuable yet sometimes wasted asset that in some incidents turns out to be a liability.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1986) The Forms of Capital. In: Richardson, J. G. (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Greenwood Press, New York, pp. 241-258.

David Throsby . (1999, December 3). Cultural capital. Journal of Cultural Economics,23(6),

Golden Biddle, Karen (1997), Breaches in the Boardroom: Organizational Identity and Conflicts of Commitment in a Nonprofit Organization. Organization Science, 8, Nov – Dec. pp 593-611.

Hirsh, P.M., S. Michaels, and R. Friedman (1987), “‘Dirty Hands’ verse ‘clean models’: Is Sociology in Danger of being seduced by Enconomics?” Theory and Society, 16, 317 – 336.

Lamont, M. A. Lareau (1988), “Cultural Capital: Allusions, Gaps and Glissandos in Recent Theoretical Developments” Sociological Theory, 6, 153 – 168.

Pettigrew, A. (1979), “On Studying Organizational Cultures,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 570-581.

Preston, A.E. (1988), “The nonprofit firm: A potential solution to inherent market failures” Economic Inquiry, 26 (July): 493 – 506.

Schneider, Anne, Jo. (2009, December 3). Organizational Social Capital and Nonprofit.Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/38/4/643.full.pdf.

Throsby, David (2001), Economics and Culture. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.

West, Edwin (1989), “Nonprofit Organizations: Revised Theory and New Evidence” Public Choice, 63, 163 – 174.