Urban and Kibbutz Dwellers in Israel: Perceptions Regarding the Importance of Acquiring Higher Education, Viewed Through Bourdieu’s Theory of the Three Capital Types

Modern society is organized as a social hierarchy, and individuals of higher status enjoy access to various advantages. Pierre Bourdieu, attempting to quantify social hierarchy, argued it can be observed through an individual’s possession of three intertwined, yet distinct, types of capital: economic capital (material resources), cultural capital (level of education) and social capital (social networks). It also known that acquiring higher education (greater cultural capital) is positively correlated with an increase in an individual’s income (economic capital). Our study examined whether population groups of two community types in Israel – Kibbutz (based on socialist principles) and Urban (based on capitalistic principles), held different views regarding encouraging their children to acquire higher education, as viewed through the prism of the three types of capital. We conducted a qualitative study of in-depth interviews with two population groups (15 individuals per group), one residing in Kibbutz, the other in Urban areas. Our study found significant differences in how each group guides their children to acquire higher education, a phenomenon which could increase inequality in Israeli society.