cultural capital

American  

[kuhl-cher-uhl kap-i-tl] / ˈkʌl tʃər əl ˈkæp ɪ tl /

noun

1. Sociology. the skills, education, norms, and behaviors acquired by members of a social group that can give them economic and other advantages.

   The accumulation of cultural capital is one route to upward mobility.

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Etymology

Origin of cultural capital

First recorded in 1975–80

Compare meaning

How does cultural-capital compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• social capital vs. cultural capital

Example Sentences

For Steinberg, the campaign has grown beyond just wanting to see movies again in a favorite venue and into something about who truly owns the cultural capital of the city.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

Museum attendance in Moscow, which competes with Saint Petersburg as Russia's cultural capital, jumped 30 percent in 2025, according to deputy mayor Natalya Sergunina.

From Barron's • Feb. 18, 2026

The Into Games report highlighted barriers such as location, access to finance, reduced cultural capital and lack of networks which prevented people from lower socio-economic backgrounds from breaking into the industry.

From BBC • Jul. 16, 2025

Because even the robber barons were not that bad; at least they endowed some libraries and foundations and fellowships and had some idea of wanting to pretend to some sort of cultural capital.

From Salon • Apr. 4, 2025

The Exposition Universelle in 1878 is a celebration of Paris’s reemergence as a cultural capital after a time preoccupied with war and recovery.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman