The Hero's Fight: African Americans in West Baltimore and the Shadow of the State by Patricia Fernández-Kelly

Author:Patricia Fernández-Kelly [Fernández-Kelly, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: USA, Geografia
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2016-08-22T22:00:00+00:00

12

CULTURAL CAPITAL AND THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD IN THE URBAN GHETTO

HOW DID TOWANDA FORREST MOVE SO QUICKLY FROM A DETERMINATION to stay away from motherhood to two pregnancies by the age of seventeen? Was she, with other impoverished girls in the nation’s ghettos, taunting the values of the larger society? Was she confirming the suspicion that welfare programs encourage dependence and sexual misbehavior?

In this chapter, I consider these questions and return to the field of economic sociology to investigate phenomena that continue to elude scholars and policy makers. I give attention to the interplay between cultural and social capital, now as a way to gain a better understanding of early motherhood and its meaning in inner-city neighborhoods.

As stated earlier, the concepts of social and cultural capital designate forms of noneconomic knowledge, derived from sources other than formal learning or instruction, which directly impinge on the economic practices of individuals and groups (Smelser and Swedberg 2005; Bourdieu 1979/1984, 1986; Coleman 1988). Although both phenomena result from interactive processes, the main distinction is in their location. Cultural capital consists of symbolic repertories; social capital depends on relations of reciprocity among individuals and groups. Cultural capital brings forth expressive behaviors; social capital hinges on connections of trust and cooperation, which facilitate access to scarce resources (see also Zelizer 2011).

The form and effects of cultural and social capital are defined by spatial and temporal factors and by collective constructions, such as social class, race, and gender. The fragmentation of experience along those lines leads to behaviors whose meaning varies from context to context. The task to be accomplished, then, is to examine the ways in which people in impoverished settings both talk about values and support their talk with action or inaction.

Because people acquire practical knowledge in the locations where they live, they also expect what is probable in their nearby environments, and they recognize as reality that which is defined as such by members of their social networks (Thomas and Thomas 1928). This is true for affluent children as well as for impoverished youngsters, many of whom become parents at an early age.

One of the implications of this insight is that lived reality structures the meaning of social performance to a larger extent than disembodied notions of morality (Swidler 1986, 2001). Impoverished people in racially segregated neighborhoods express adherence to mainstream American mores; hard work, family loyalties, and individual achievement are all part of their cultural repertories. Nevertheless, the translation of values into actions is shaped by the tangible milieu that encircles them. So, incidentally, is the ability of affluent families to actualize values into behavior.

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