Bourdieu Article

            I struggled quite a bit with the Bourdieu article. Most of the terms used were foreign to me. I do not know much about capital or the forms of it. I tried my best to get through the article with some sort of understanding of capital and the forms of it. The article talked about cultural capital. Which comes in three forms; embodied state, objectified state, and institutionalized state. Embodied state being, "in the form of long lasting dispositions of the mind and body". How I understand this is this is the capital that we acquire consciously and subconsciously meaning the things you acquire yourself and also the things that were passed on to you (things you inherit). Embodied state is not something that everyone gets. Yes you can work on it earning your own forms of capital but you may never get anything by inheritance like others will. Inheritance is a way that could change your class or at least enhance it in some way. The second form is objectified state which is, "the form of cultural goods (pictures, books, dictionaries, instruments, machines, etc)". This is the form of capital which means that it is possessions that you physically own. These are things that you could sell or keep due to cultural value. This could also help rank you higher in class. Not only because of the economic worth but the cultural worth of the object. The last form of cultural capital is institutionalized state which is, "a form of objectification which must be set apart because it confers entirely original properties on the cultural capital which it is presumed to guarantee". This is a capital that is valued in terms of academic credit of an individual. This is not necessarily a physical thing but it can still weigh a lot when it comes to ranking class. This form of capital makes people regard you in a certain way. If you have that academic credit for example you are seen as more highly educated and therefore ranked higher by some people. This form of capital regards academia and intellect higher than physical possessions.
              Cultural capital has a way of being acquired. Although it depends solely on "the period, the society, and the social class". Each form of capital is seen differently through different times and by different classes. Social capital is a little different. It relies less on physical possessions and more on  relationships between individuals and groups. It is an idea that states basically that it is an advantage for a person to partake in social networks and forming connections. These social networks can alter your class quite a bit in the sense that some networks can enhance your class standing and other can lower it. It can be argued for example that social capital groups for the poor can actually help capital output (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital#Definitions.2C_forms.2C_and_measurement). I believe that different types capital can affect the class system in a substantial way. Especially, if used correctly, social capital can be used to an advantage in the class system.