Economic, Social, Cultural, Emotional, and Sensory Capitals in Academic Achievement

Capitals’ contribution to educational achievement and their role in one’s success or failure within classrooms are paramount, which is why they have been often discussed in the realm of the sociology of education. Adding the newly-developed concept of sensory capital as a complement to the existing capitals, the present study seeks to statistically find the potential relationships these capitals may have with each other and their possible influences on educational achievement. To accomplish this, first, a questionnaire was designed and validated to quantify the amount of sensory capital. Then, along with emotional, social, cultural, and economic capital questionnaires, it was given to 410 participants whose language scores were used as an indicator of educational achievement. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was run, the results of which indicated positive relationships among all types of capital and a significant role in language achievement score, with economic capital having the highest and social capital having the lowest contribution. Therefore, capitals can be concluded to both have a significant relationship with each other and a determining role in educational achievement that should be taken into account when it comes to dealing with educational success in academic environments.