Perspectives on Cultural Capital and the Neighbourhood

Abstract

Neighbourhoods have long been analysed in terms of the impacts of economic or social capital. This paper argues for the significance of the impact of cultural capital on neighbourhood change. It compares the ideas of lifestyle cultural capital as an asset in urban competitiveness, or a participatory tool in neighbourhood regeneration, with Pierre Bourdieu's idea of cultural capital applied in the neighbourhood context. Using the examples of gentrification in several cities, the paper suggests how, rather than being a uniformly productive asset (as the lifestyle and regeneration approaches imply), the various forms of cultural capital might consolidate or dissipate to produce contrasting neighbourhood trajectories and a range of interneighbourhood and intraneighbourhood social distinctions and divisions.