Economic resources and embodied class membership are different currencies: 'ease' is the invisible, practiced comportment and network fluency that certifies someone as an insider. Policies or interventions that only transfer money will not automatically change who is accepted or who controls institutions without attending to cultural transmission and institutional gatekeeping.
— This reframes inequality policy by insisting that tackling class barriers requires cultural‑institutional remedies (mentoring, curriculum, hiring norms, symbolic inclusion) in addition to cash transfers, because status is reproduced through practice not just balance sheets.
Rob Henderson
2026.01.11
100% relevant
The article uses Jay Gatsby — rich but lacking 'cultural capital' and the 'ease' Bourdieu described — as the exemplar of wealth failing to convert into social membership.
← Back to All Ideas