Arts and Elite Schooling: The Accumulation of Advantaging Forms of Cultural Capital

97 Pages·2017·11.48 MB·English

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Honors Theses Student Research
2016
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Hannah R. Macquarrie
Colby College
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Macquarrie, Hannah R., "Arts and Elite Schooling: The Accumulation of Advantaging Forms of
Cultural Capital" (2016). Honors Theses. Paper 841.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/honorstheses/841
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Arts and Elite Schooling:
The Accumulation of Advantaging Forms
of Cultural Capital

Hannah Macquarrie completed the requirements
for Honors in Education
May 2016

______________________________
M. Adam Howard
Associate Professor of Education
Advisor

___________________________________
Adrian Blevins
Associate Professor of English
Reader

Arts and Elite Schooling:
The Accumulation of Advantaging Forms
of Cultural Capital

Hannah Macquarrie
Colby College

Senior Honors Thesis
Educational Studies with a concentration in Schools, Society, and Culture

Fall 2015-Spring 2016

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my advisor and the guru of all things education, Adam Howard, for
his unwavering support and belief in me. Along with his critical role in the completion of this
project, Adam has taught me immeasurable lessons inside the classroom. Without his classes I
may have never had the opportunity to realize and confront my own privileges and consequently
would have missed the experience here at Colby that was arguably most important to my
personal development. I hope that every student at Colby has the opportunity to someday have a
professor like Adam, if not the man himself. Adam, you are a true gift to this community, thank
you for every little thing you do.

I would also like to thank Adrian Blevins, my second reader, for her help in editing and
revising this project. Through her passion of poetry, Adrian has challenged me to think deeply
about myself in relation to myself and to others. Her genuine interest in me as a student and as a
person has contributed to the individual that I am today. Adrian has taught me what a peculiar
world we live in and how important it is to harness our knowledge to pursue life with awareness.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my parents and my closest friends for their countless
pep-talks that kept me pushing to the end of this project.

Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………..…...... 1
Introduction……………………………………………………………………..….... 2
Research Sites……………………………………………………………………..… 10
Methods……………………………………………………………………………... 23
Data Gathering………………………………………………..…………..… 24
Data Analysis…………………………………………………..……………. 25
Literature Review: Arts Serve the Elites…..……………………………..…………. 27
Theory: Arts and the Status Culture Model………………………..………... 28
Taking Arts to Class: Social Class and the Arts……………………..……… 32
Pedagogical Approaches to the Production
of Cultural Capital Through the Arts…………………………..…..... 36
Narrative Findings: The Purposeful Production of Cultural Consumers……..…..…. 44
Not Just for Art’s Sake……………………………………………………..... 45
It Pays to Know……………………………………………………..……….. 53
Exposure Creates Consumers………………………………………..……… 63
Discussion: The Arts and Reproduction..……………………………………..…….. 69
Conclusion: Elites Serve the Arts…………………………………………..…..…… 80
References………………………………………………………………………..…. 85