Academic capital originated in 1979 when Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002), a prominent French sociologist, used the term in his book Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste (translated to English in 1984).
[2] Since Bourdieu first coined the term, it has been used widely—from France, the United States, Australia and Sweden—to discuss many of the implications involved with schooling and the rise of individuals in academia.
Academic capitalism is when universities act like profit-seeking organizations that market the knowledge that they can give to students, or clients.
Government statistics reveal that over the past 8 years, the average weekly earnings of individuals with bachelor's degrees have actually decreased, in relation to inflation, by nearly 2%.
Again, with the diminished status of an undergraduate degree, individuals need to attend further schooling in order to increase their academic capital and their opportunities in the job market.
An individual's academic capital does not affect only their own personal life, but also the lives of those around them, like their children or, in the case of teachers, their students.
What makes this issue of great concern is that teachers with high levels of academic capital are not distributed evenly throughout the population.
According to the Illinois Education Research Council, as levels of poverty and minority populations increase within a school, the number of teachers with high academic capital strongly decrease.
The Illinois Education Research Council acknowledges that academic capital is only one of the many things that constitute a teacher's success in the classroom; however, its report refers to a study that used student value-added data to determine a direct link between a student's progress and his or her teacher's academic capital.
A similar study done in the state of Texas came to comparable conclusions that the skill level of a teacher informs the students' success.
of fifteen-year-olds in Mexico, the amount of cultural intake was directly proportional to the level of academic achievement in the students.
[10] However, it has been argued that Bourdieu's research on the different types of capital does not actually explain a relationship; rather that it simply demonstrates a cycle.
His analysis strengthens the argument that the duration of schooling (coupled with its quality) and family and social environments affect aspirations and success.
Some have even argued that society's strong emphasis on gaining academic capital may be a cause of the high rates of cheating and plagiarism in schools.