Community Cultural Wealth and Adaptive Capital: First-generation Latine Students' Use of Cultural and Social Capital within Community Colleges

Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977) and others since him have shown the importance of the use of social and cultural capital within schools. Although Bourdieu used his theory to criticize the reproduction of the middle and upper class hierarchy, it presents capital as something students either have or do not have. Issues arise from this because research finds that students who do not do well in school are lacking that capital, seeing them as deficient. In other words, in order to advance in society, you need to acquire the skills and knowledge valued by society. This ignores the fact that other forms of social and cultural capital exist. Using Yosso's (2005) theory of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW), which highlights six forms of capital students of color bring to school with them, I will highlight the ways in which first-generation Latine community college students navigate through community college. The study also names a new form of capital named adaptive capital which students bring to their two and four-year colleges with them. Through semi-structured interviews of current community college students and those who have transferred, I argue that if we are going to stop the reproduction of social inequalities within schools, other forms of capital need to be recognized and implemented within school culture and policy.