Migration and Inequality: Object Constructions in the Field of Social Science

The current debate concerning issues of the integration or non-integration of immigrants into the education system shows a marked reluctance to question the cultural and social embedding of scientific practice. However, overcoming this reluctance is essential for assessing the role played by science in the construction of relations of domination and subordination between different forms of cultural capital. Drawing on theory of symbolic violence (TSV) (Bourdieu & Passeron 1973; Bourdieu 1988) and critical race theory (CRT) (Matsuda 1991; Yosso 2005), the present study discusses the role of social construction of the hierarchy of values among forms of cultural capital in migration research. It employs a systematic content analysis of four selected journals in the social sciences to examine whether and to what extent symbolic and (origin-)specific cultural capital are discussed and what specific relation is established between both forms of cultural capital.