the form of information-sharing channels and networks, as well as social norms, values, andexpected behaviors. High status cultural signals include the attitudes, preferences, knowledge,behaviors, possessions, and credentials that function as informal academic standards, and that aregenerally defined by the dominant class. Individuals who lack the required cultural capital may lowertheir educational aspirations or self-select out of particular situations (e.g., not enroll in higher education)because they do not know the particular cultural norms, overperform to compensate for their less-valued cultural resources, or receive fewer rewards for their educational investment. Teachers in bothschool interpreted parental involvement as a refection of the value parents places on their children’seducation success (Laueau, 1987).The social reproduction theory can be widely seen in the American educational system. Socialreproduction is the theory that children tend to lead lives like those of where they where raised sociallyand economically. Social reproduction works in that children born/raised into a poor society whereeducation is less valued and where a strong back and arm will get you a few dollars a week tends tolead those children towards a poor life. In the popular mind, school is the great equalizer: By providinga level playing field where the low and the mighty compete on an equal basis, schooling reminders socialinequality superfluous (MacLeod, 1995, pg. 11). Reproduction theories, in contrast, show that schoolsactually reinforce social inequality while pretending to the opposite.(MacLeod, 1995 pg. 11) The book “Ain’t No Makin It” by Jay MacLeod represent strong evidence of the influence ofcultural capital and the theory of social reproduction. “Ain’t No Makin It” is a ethnography about two“gangs” in the projects of Clarendon Heights and their struggles of social reproduction. The ...
