The Racialized Field of Education: Students’ Racialized Cultural Capital and the Meaning-making of Race in Schools

Abstract

Using field theory as an analytical tool, this study explores how students’ engagement in racialized cultural capital-generating activities via parental racial socialization (PRSOC) operates in schools. I use data from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study to (1) focus on the ways Black and White students are engaged in different PRSOC pathways; (2) investigate the relationship between these pathways, academic outcomes, and educational experiences; and (3) explore the extent to which there is variation in content and purpose of Black and White PRSOC. Significant differences in PRSOC surface, whereby Black students, on average, report engaging in significantly higher amounts and more varied racialized cultural capital-generating activities than White students. Findings also suggest a significant positive relationship between Black students’ PRSOC and academic outcomes, and to a lesser extent, a negative relationship with educational experiences. Furthermore, while there is no relationship between White students’ PRSOC, academic outcomes, and educational experiences, there is a significant positive relationship between White racial pride and White students’ educational experiences, suggesting that White students’ probability of liking school is related to their racial pride. These differences may have repercussions on students’ educational experiences as racialized cultural capital-generating activities of Black PRSOC largely serve to protect students from racism, while those of White PRSOC ultimately maintain the racialized field of education.