Quiz 4, Question 1: Cultural Capital vs. Physical Capital

Cultural capital, a sociological concept, refers to "forms of knowledge, skills, education, and advantages that a person has, which give them higher status in society."

In the following commercial for the 1999 Cadillac Escalade, cultural capital is used to help sell the car to a particular social class.

The first line of the commercial mentions being able to find a "smarter" way through traffic (because of the Escalade). This seems to imply that people without Escalades, which is the majority of society, are not as intelligent as people who own Escalades because those people

A. Obviously aren't as wealthy or they too would be able to afford an Escalade

and

B. Obviously aren't as smart or they would have better jobs and be wealthier and be able to afford the Escalade

The commercial then goes on to mentions two things that are generally associated with being wealthy:

• A flight to almost anywhere
• Reservations at the finest hotel

Again, implying that those who are going to be driving or purchasing the Escalade must be in a certain class before they purchase the Escalade in order to "keep up" their luxurious lifestyle.

Using a cultural capital approach versus a physical capital approach, which would focus more on how many people are actually able to purchase this mass-produced, expensive vehicle, draws in the attention of the correct audience; the wealthy. Also important to note is that the price of the vehicle is never mentioned; perhaps this is done to keep the focus on the cultural capital. After all, the Escalade is not trying to market itself as "affordable" but rather as something that only the elite can attain.