Cultural Capital and Educational Inequality: A Critical Analysis of Bourdieu's Thought in the Context of Indonesian Education

Abstract

Educational inequality in Indonesia is not solely the result of economic limitations, but also a reflection of the inequality of cultural capital institutionalized within the social system. This study aims to analyze Pierre Bourdieu's thinking on cultural capital, habitus, and domain in the context of Indonesian education. Using a literature review approach to ten national and international articles, this study seeks to identify how social structures and cultural values inherited from families play a role in reproducing inequality in educational access and achievement. The analysis shows that schools, as social arenas, often serve as instruments of symbolic reproduction that reinforce the dominant position of privileged groups. Cultural capital in the form of language, thinking styles, and value orientations that are in accordance with the formal education system tend to benefit students from the upper middle class, while students from the lower classes experience symbolic alienation. Therefore, educational inequality in Indonesia can be understood not only as a policy issue, but also as a structural problem rooted in relations of symbolic power and social reproduction. This study concludes the urgency of applying a critical sociological approach to educational policy so that the education system can be more inclusive and socially just.