A Correlation Research Of Family Economic Situation And Undergraduates’ Cultural Capital Status:The Case Of Z University

The development of undergraduates is an important issue in our society, it is also an indicator for higher education quality and cultivation of students. According to the capital theory addressed by Pierre Bourdieu, cultural capital status is an important aspect which reflects the development of undergraduates. Nowadays, whether students from disadvantaged background can have a promising future or not becomes a hot topic of debate. While an important dimension of a promising future is the level of cultural capital, the correlation research between undergraduates’family economic situation and cultural capital status is a valuable topic both in theory and in practice.In order to explore the relationship between undergraduates’family economic situation and cultural capital status, the cultural capital was divided into three forms according to Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory:embodied cultural capital, objectified cultural capital and institutionalized cultural capital. Embodied cultural capital refers to one’s cultural ability, which includes the language ability and personality types; Objectified cultural capital means the cultural objects one owned. The form of institutional cultural capital can be considered as the academic credentials or qualifications individuals has got. On basis of systematic literature review, researchers find that family economic background studies mainly focus on the measurement of economic level and how family economic level impacts on students’ academic achievement. While attentions are paid to a theoretical analysis of cultural capital and the relations between cultural capital and the development of undergraduates. Which means researches on the relationship between undergraduates’ family economic situation and cultural capital need to be deepened.The questionnaire used in the research is a connection of the work from Sullivan, John Noble, the 2014 China Statistical Yearbook, Wu Binzhen and Zhou Shuxi. Researchers investigated 400 undergraduates in a provincial normal university and acquire abundant data. After variance analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis, the result shows that there are significant differences in cultural capital condition among different family economic background; cultural capital of undergraduates mainly includes four key factors:cultural activities, cultural knowledge, cultural taste and social concerns. Family economic level has positive correlation with the cultural capital status of undergraduates. We also build a regression model between family economic situation and cultural capital status of undergraduates that can forecast the cultural capital status of undergraduates.On the basis of the above findings, the study recommends that universities can improve the cultural capital status of disadvantaged undergraduates by the following ways. Firstly, subsidizing disadvantaged undergraduates accurately and effectively; Secondly, enhancing campus cultural atmosphere, so that students can participate in cultural activities and accumulating their cultural capital; Thirdly, educating and encouraging students take the initiative to enhance their individual cultural capital accumulation to promote their own development. Reflection on the whole research, we can come to a conclusion that case study has its important academic value, but a following exploration to a wider range of fields worth waiting.