Accumulation of cultural and social capital: The differing college careers of prep school and public school graduates

Beginning in the 1920s, and continuing through the 1950s, research indicated that in college (and especially at Harvard) public school graduates were higher academic achievers than were prep school graduates. After the Second World War, however, admissions to prestigious colleges became much more competitive; graduates of the most elite boarding schools were no longer assured entry to the college of their choice. Therefore, this series of three studies was designed to update and extend the earlier research. It was found that at Wesleyan University, Yale University, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College, public school graduates were significantly more likely than prep school graduates to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In contrast, the private school graduates were significantly more likely than the public school graduates to be selected as members of the two most prestigious senior societies at Wesleyan and Yale (The Mystical Seven at Wesleyan and Skull and Bones at Yale). Pierre Bourdieu's (1977) theory of social reproduction and his concepts of “cultural capital” and “social capital” are used to interpret both the earlier findings and the findings reported in these three studies.