Whiteness as symbolic capital: disrupting elite power and racial binaries to advance interracial solidarity in UK higher education

This study examines Bourdieu's theory of capital within the context of traditional elite institutions in the UK, highlighting how capital can both divide and empower. Focusing on Black and White undergraduate perceptions of race, racism, and racial inclusion at a Northeast elite institution, the study reveals how Whiteness is constituted and legitimized through symbolic capital. In doing so, it extends existing scholarship on the relationship between race and capital. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies, the study adopts an interracial analytical approach to examine how racialized hierarchies are experienced and reproduced. The findings indicate that, although the institution holds significant symbolic capital, it is enacted in ways that can be dehumanizing, contributing to a culturally divisive and racially exclusive environment, particularly for non-typical elite students. Consequently, the analysis challenges the taken-for-granted neutrality of symbolic capital by exposing its entanglement with Whiteness. Considering this, the study calls for a critical reevaluation of the value ascribed to traditional elite spaces and advocates for further interracial research to foster solidarity and advance interracial inclusivity in higher education.