This blog is based on research, conducted in 2021, which explored the concept of ‘ethnic capital’ through interviews with seven British Kashmiri academics whose qualifications ranged between graduate degrees, Master’s and PhDs.
In exploring the concept of ethnic capital, it is necessary to start with a focus on social class which, through one’s parents, largely determines one’s educational attainments and through them determines one’s class destination (Breen & Muller, 2020). In Bourdieu’s (1997) concept of habitus – the framework of ideas, relationships and practices which structure how we think and act – he placed capital at the centre of his analysis. This was expressed in extending the idea of capital from the realm of economics to the social and cultural domain. For Bourdieu such capital was classed; either working or middle class.
