Cultural Capital and Its Relationship to Academic Assessment Outcomes Among Undergraduate Students at the Autonomous University of the West, Culiacán Regional Campus, Sinaloa, Mexico

Abstract

This work is based on the theory of “The three states of cultural capital” by Pierre Bourdieu and examines the relationship between the variables of cultural capital in their objectified and incorporated states with the results in the academic evaluations of undergraduate students. In this study, 365 students from the educational programs of the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, regional campus of Culiacán, Sinaloa participated; who, through a survey, provided data with which it was possible to measure at what level they had had contact with forms of acquisition of objectified and incorporated cultural capital and, to give value to the results of the academic evaluations, the average obtained in the semester was used immediately prior to the date of the study. The results of the model applied in this study showed that the variables of acquisition of objectified and incorporated cultural capital of the students have a relationship with the qualifications they obtain, in addition, which determines which of these variables has the greatest influence on them. The study helped to strengthen the idea that contact with culture objects as well as activities and appreciation of artistic-cultural expressions during the training of university students makes a favorable contribution to their academic performance.