Cultural Reproduction in Teachers' Pedagogical Practices: A Bourdieusian Perspective

Teaching processes within the educational field are often regarded as neutral mechanisms for the transmission of knowledge. However, Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction challenges this assumption by demonstrating that education is far from a simple conduit of knowledge; rather, it functions as a central mechanism through which social hierarchies and cultural inequalities are continuously reproduced. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural reproduction provides a powerful analytical lens for understanding how inequality is subtly maintained through everyday educational practices. Rather than viewing schools as neutral sites of knowledge transmission, Bourdieu conceptualizes education as a social field in which dominant cultural norms are legitimized and reproduced through pedagogical processes. Teachers, often unintentionally, play a central role in this process through their teaching practices, expectations, and evaluative judgments. Accordingly, this article draws on Bourdieu’s framework to analyze cultural reproduction embedded in pedagogical practices.