Parental cultural capital and educational attainment in the Netherlands: A refinement of the cultural capital perspective

In this article, the authors report on their research on which aspects of parental cultural resources affect educational attainment and distinguish between parental beaux arts participation and parental reading behavior. Using representative data for the Netherlands in 1992 (N = 1,653), they found that parental reading behavior, not parental beaux arts participation, affects children's educational attainment. The authors also examine the validity of two alternative theories on the interaction of parents' educational background and their cultural capital (distinguishing between parental reading and beaux arts participation): Bourdieu's cultural reproduction theory and DiMaggio's cultural mobility theory. The data provide support for the cultural mobility hypothesis with respect to parental reading behavior; that is, parental reading is effective in predicting success in school, especially for children whose parents have low levels of education.