Cultural Capital and Risk Perception: The Mediating Effect of Family Digital Education Strategies on Offspring Opportunities

Yuduo Dai

doi:10.6918/IJOSSER.202607_9(7).0011

Authors

Yuduo Dai Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202607_9(7).0011

Keywords:

Cultural capital; risk society; digital divide; family education; mediating effect.

Abstract

The popularization of digital technology has not eliminated educational inequality, and families are facing a digital "risk gap". This paper integrates Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital and Beck's perspective of risk society, and proposes a "family digital risk assessment strategy" as an intermediary mechanism connecting traditional cultural capital and children's educational opportunities. Based on the analysis of 805 student and 820 parent questionnaires, it is found that families with high cultural capital tend to adopt an "actuarial navigation" strategy, converting risks into educational benefits; while families with low cultural capital are trapped in "intuitive defense" or "passive laissez-faire" strategies, restricting their children's educational opportunities. The type of strategy plays a significant mediating role between cultural capital and educational opportunities. This study provides a new explanatory path for understanding the reproduction of educational inequality in the digital age.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] China Internet Network Information Center. (2023). The 52nd statistical report on the development of the Internet in China. https://www.cnnic.net.cn/

[2] Ragnedda, M. (2017). The third digital divide: A Weberian approach to digital inequalities. Routledge.

[3] Wei, Y., Huang, Z., & Liu, J. (2021). Family educational investment under the "Double Reduction" policy: Changes and challenges. Educational Research, 12, 18–30.

[4] Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. Sage Publications.

[5] Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood Press.

[6] Hargittai, E., & Hinnant, A. (2008). Digital inequality: Differences in young adults' use of the Internet. Communication Research, 35(5), 602–621. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208321782

[7] Verwiebe, R., & Hagemann, S. (2025). Bourdieu revisited: New forms of digital capital – emergence, reproduction, inequality of distribution. Information, Communication & Society, 28(11), 1861–1883. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2024.2358170

[8] Zinn, J. (2008). Social theories of risk and uncertainty: An introduction. Blackwell Publishing.

[9] National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (1995). Falling through the Net: A survey of the "have nots" in rural and urban America. U.S. Department of Commerce.

[10] Norris, P. (2001). Digital divide: Civic engagement, information poverty, and the Internet worldwide. Cambridge University Press.

[11] DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the "Digital Divide" to "Digital Inequality": Studying Internet use as penetration increases. IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc. https://ideas.repec.org/p/prn/prncid/011.html

[12] Hargittai, E. (2001). Second-level digital divide: Mapping differences in people's online skills. arXiv:cs/0109068. https://arxiv.org/abs/cs/0109068

[13] van Deursen, A., & van Dijk, J. (2011). Internet skills and the digital divide. New Media & Society, 13(6), 893–911. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810386774

[14] Nguyen, M. H., Hargittai, E., & Marler, W. (2021). Digital inequality in communication during a time of physical distancing: The case of COVID-19. Computers in Human Behavior, 120, 106717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106717

[15] Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture. SAGE Publications.

[16] Hou, Y., Chen, S., & Lin, X. (2024). Parental digital involvement in online learning: Addressing the digital divide, not redressing digital reproduction. European Journal of Education, 59, e12635. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12635

[17] Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life (2nd ed.). University of California Press.

[18] Yamamoto, Y., & Brinton, M. C. (2010). Cultural capital in East Asian educational systems: The case of Japan. Sociology of Education, 83(1), 67–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040709357036

[19] Lash, S. (2000). Risk culture. In B. Adam, U. Beck, & J. Van Loon (Eds.), The risk society and beyond: Critical issues for social theory (pp. 47–62). Sage Publications.

[20] Qiu, Z., Lin, L., & Chen, W. (2021). A new dimension of the digital divide: Risk perception and digital inequality. Journalism & Communication, 28, 5–22.

[21] Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/9781462534657

[22] Wu, M. L. (2010). Questionnaire statistical analysis practice: SPSS operation and application. Chongqing University Press.

[23] DiMaggio, P. (1982). Cultural capital and school success: The impact of status culture participation on the grades of U.S. high school students. American Sociological Review, 47(2), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.2307/2094962

[24] Sullivan, A. (2001). Cultural capital and educational attainment. Sociology, 35(4), 893–912. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038501035004

[25] Fantuzzo, J., Tighe, E., & Childs, S. (2000). Family involvement questionnaire: A multivariate assessment of family participation in early childhood education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2), 367–376. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.92.2.367

[26] Warren, R., & Bluma, A. (2002). Parental mediation of children's Internet use: The influence of established media. Communication Research Reports, 19(1), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/08938150209362473

[27] Nikken, P., & Jansz, J. (2014). Developing scales to measure parental mediation of young children's internet use. Learning, Media and Technology, 39(2), 250–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2013.782743

[28] Hargittai, E., & boyd, d. (2021). Digital inequality. In Oxford bibliographies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199760600-0242