More Than Money: The Relative Importance of Cultural, Social, and Economic Capital for Highbrow Cultural Experiences

What enables participation in highbrow cultural experiences such as opera, classical music, and art exhibitions? Drawing on Bourdieu’s framework of economic, cultural, and social capital, this research investigates the relative roles of these three forms of capital in shaping engagement in highbrow cultural experiences. Across studies in the United Kingdom (N=6,935) and the United States (N=400), we find that cultural and social capital are more strongly associated with engagement in highbrow cultural experiences than economic capital. While cultural capital is the strongest correlate in the United Kingdom, social capital emerges as more predictive in the United States, suggesting contextual variation in the pathways to cultural engagement. These patterns are specific to highbrow cultural experiences; for lowbrow experiences, such as bowling or casual dining, cultural and social capital are weaker predictors. Together, the findings challenge the assumption that financial resources are the primary determinant of highbrow experiences.