Arts Education - Homemade? On the Effect of Parental Cultural Capital on Cultural Activities of Adolescents

In the present article it is shown that parental cultural capital is a crucial factor in accessing arts education. It is argued that the intergenerational transmission of cultural capital is a mechanism which perpetuates unequal opportunities of participating in arts education from one generation to the other. The contribution builds upon Pierre Bourdieus theory and deduces a differentiated operationalization of cultural capital. Arts education is operationalized in its highbrow and sociocultural facets, that include formal, non-formal and informal settings in all cultural branches. The effects of parental cultural capital on arts activities of the adolescents are investigated analyzing data from the German National Educational Panel Study with structural equation models. It can be shown that receptive highbrow cultural activities are most strongly associated with parental cultural capital, followed by courses outside of school, participation in culture clubs and visiting a school with an artistic profile, while no social disparities can be found for cultural activities in youth centers. The results emphasize the need for further research to point out possibilities to foster equal opportunities in participating in arts education.