서울지역 초등학교 교사의 문화자본에 관한 연구 = Study on the Cultural Capital of Elementary School Teachers in Seoul Area

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to identify if teachers are truly qualified to be culture initiators of the ruling class based on Bourdieu`s cultural reproduction theory as theoretical resource, which especially pays attention to the role of teachers. For this purpose, this study examines the cultural capital which elementary school teachers in Seoul area hold. Two survey data sets are utilized. One is conducted on 470 teachers in Seoul through a sample allocated proportional to region. The other is ‘Study on the Perception of Cultural Capital’ conducted in 2011. From these data sets, questionnaires on evaluation of one`s cultural knowledge, preference and familiarity of high-culture activities, and recognition of high art were used for t-test and multiple regression analysis. The analysis results show that compared to adults and middle class nationwide, teachers of elementary schools in Seoul area evaluated their cultural knowledge highly, show higher level of preference and participation in high-level culture, and have the highest level of recognition in art works. The group of elementary school teachers in Seoul area holds an abundant amount of cultural capital compared to other groups. The fact whether being a teacher does have a positive effect on their cultural capital holding even when controlling the socio-demographic factors that can affect the holding of cultural capital. Despite its theoretical importance, this research has significance since it was conducted on cultural capital of teachers who have not studied enough in the past. Moreover, this research identifies that teachers can play an important role within the mechanism of unequal social structure reproduction in their school space with the condition of being a cultural initiator in the ruling class as Bourdieu argued.