bell hooks

COLLAPSE

Watch bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation, a 6 -minute video clip. bell hooks (somehow her name is all lower case) is a well known black feminist and a cultural critic. She has taught both at Yale and the City University of New York at Harlem. She says that students at both schools are equally brilliant but what to do with their brilliance is totally different. Discuss the differences between the two groups by applying the concepts of economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, life chances, and meritocracy. 

URL: bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLMVqnyTo_0

The differences between the Yale and Harlem students is what their education will mean for them going forward. 

The Harlem students are more focused on surviving most likely because they come from less fortunate backgrounds. They are focused on learning for the sake of their future. They want to build up cultural capital, especially institutionalized capital, because they are most concerned with being able to survive outside of college. These students were not raised to think they had many opportunities or special life chances. Harlem students use their brilliance to generate economic capital. Harlem students just want to survive because it is the only goal they have been raised with.

Conversely, Yale students are more focused on expanding their minds than the Harlem students. These students likely came from upstanding backgrounds where they did not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Yale students have more appreciation for the cultural and social capital they will obtain from their experiences. They want to experience college life and have more social experiences. These students embrace the principles of a meritocracy. They believe that their talents and hard work have awarded them the chance to get to Yale. These kids have amazing life chances compared to the Harlem students. Yale students want to enjoy their experience because they feel like they have earned it for being so dedicated to their education.