L 9 Capital Conversions

Summary

In this enlightening lecture by Professor Erica Vogel, we delve into the multifaceted concept of capital as articulated by philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. Vogel explores different forms of capital, including cultural, social, and symbolic, beyond mere economic capital. The lecture transitions into discussions on how these capitals are utilized and converted by migrants, particularly focusing on Peruvians in South Korea. These migrants navigate and leverage various types of capital to enhance their socio-economic status and pursue their dreams amidst challenges like deportation risks. Vogel's insights stem from her fieldwork, illustrating how migrants strategically accumulate and convert different types of capital to improve their circumstances and potentially change their identities.

Highlights

• Economic capital is just one form of capital; Bourdieu introduces cultural, social, and symbolic capital as crucial too. 🤑
• Cultural capital includes skills and knowledge that make certain behaviors seem 'natural.' 🎨
• Social capital taps into one's network and connections for opportunities. 🤝
• Symbolic capital arises from honors, recognitions, or societal impressions, impacting one's potential in different arenas. 🏆
• Migrants, like those from Peru to South Korea, leverage their capitals against deportation risks and economic needs. ✈️
• Transnational migration highlights unique capital conversions to navigate and thrive in foreign lands. 🗺️

Key Takeaways

• Bourdieu's theory reveals multiple kinds of capital beyond just money, including cultural, symbolic, and social capital. 💡
• Understanding and accumulating different types of capital can shape one's access to opportunities and status. 🔍
• Migrants often convert non-economic capital into economic gains, navigating complex social structures to improve their lives. 🌍
• Despite challenges, migrants cultivate resilience and adaptability, seen in the unique strategies of Peruvian migrants in South Korea. 💪
• Professor Vogel's fieldwork provides deep insights into cross-cultural exchanges and the dynamic use of capital among migrants. 🌏

Overview

Professor Erica Vogel introduces the theory of capital forms by philosopher Pierre Bourdieu, highlighting the complexities beyond just financial wealth. Bourdieu's framework includes cultural, social, and symbolic capital, offering a nuanced understanding of social stratification and inequality. This sets the stage for exploring how these forms are evident in the migration experiences between Peru and South Korea.

In her fieldwork, Vogel examines Peruvian migrants who travel to South Korea and their ingenious ways of leveraging capital forms to secure a better future. Through stories of resilience and adaptation, she discusses how cultural, social, and symbolic capital are accumulated and converted to navigate their new environments. These narratives underline the strategic planning migrants undertake to improve their socio-economic standing and personal identities.

Leveraging firsthand interviews and experiences, Vogel sheds light on the transnational realities faced by migrants. She paints a vivid picture of the migrants' shared spaces, challenges, and triumphs, revealing the day-to-day applications of Bourdieu’s theory in real-world contexts. Her work illustrates the global nature of migration and the intricate dance of capital conversion that supports their dreams and survival strategies in unfamiliar territories.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to the Lecture and Pierre Bourdieu's Theory The chapter begins with Professor Erica Vogel introducing her lecture titled 'Converting Capital'. She mentions that she will first discuss the forms of capital, a theory developed by French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. Following this, she will introduce a chapter from her book 'Migrant Conversions: Transforming Connections between Peru and South Korea'. The specific chapter to be discussed is titled 'Cosmopolitan Conversion'. The lecture opens with a picture of Pierre Bourdieu.
• 00:30 - 05:00: Exploring Types of Capital: Economic, Cultural, Social, and Symbolic The chapter explores the concept of different forms of capital as proposed in relation to social stratification and inequality. It examines why differences in economic classes seem natural and why affluent students have easier access to premier educational institutions. It questions the system of inequality and how it is perpetuated, despite appearing natural to society.
• 05:00 - 08:00: Application of Capital Conversion in Professor Vogel's Book In the chapter titled 'Application of Capital Conversion in Professor Vogel's Book', the discussion begins with the notion of different forms of capital, starting with economic capital, which refers to money, assets, and cash—essentially any financial resources an individual can access. Economic capital is widely desired in a capitalist system as people strive to accumulate it. However, Professor Vogel points out that there are other, less obvious forms of capital that contribute to a person’s value but are not immediately recognized as such.
• 08:00 - 16:00: Peruvian Migration Patterns and Global Financial Impact The chapter explores the concept of Peruvian migration patterns and their impact on the global economy. It introduces the idea of economic capital beyond traditional financial assets, emphasizing other forms of capital, such as cultural capital. This encompasses knowledge, skills, and behaviors that individuals from Peru carry with them, influencing their new environments. The discussion highlights the often-overlooked contributions of migrants, focusing on embodied cultural capital (behaviors, skills, knowledge) and institutional capital (formal qualifications and credentials). This broader view of economic capital illustrates the multifaceted influence of migration on global economic dynamics.
• 16:00 - 20:00: Conclusion: Cosmopolitan Conversions and Capital Accumulation The conclusion of the book discusses the concept of cultural capital as an insidious form of capital accumulation. It uses the example of individuals who appear naturally refined or classy in sophisticated settings, such as fancy restaurants. These individuals possess cultural capital, demonstrated by their knowledge of etiquette, such as how to speak to a Mater D or which forks to use during a meal. This behavior might seem innate but is actually acquired and accumulated over time, reflecting deeper social and educational privileges. The chapter emphasizes the complex and often unseen ways cultural capital contributes to capital accumulation in cosmopolitan contexts.

L 9 Capital Conversions Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hi this is Professor Erica Vogel and this lecture is called converting Capital so first I'm going to talk about the forms of capital which is a theory developed by the philosopher Pierre bourdue and then I'm going to introduce a chapter from my book which is called migrant conversions transforming connections between Peru and South Korea and we're going to read a short chapter called Cosmopolitan conversion all right so here's a picture of pure Bordeaux he's a French philosopher and
• 00:30 - 01:00 he came up with a concept of different forms of capital so here's why he wanted to do this he wanted to figure out why social stratification or like differences in economic classes how that seemed natural to us and why Rich students always seem to have an easier time getting into the best schools so he's kind of asking why is it that this system of inequality happens and then how does it perpetuate itself it seems natural
• 01:00 - 01:30 okay so he came up with a few different kinds of capital I'm going to start with the one at the end which is economic capital that is money right asset cash access to money that somebody has so um that is kind of what um everybody in a capitalist system wants is to accumulate economic capital but he said there are other kind of sneakier forms of capital or the you know value that a person can have that don't immediately
• 01:30 - 02:00 appear like economic capital and you might not even think oh that that's a kind of capital that they have right so let me tell you an example the first one is called cultural capital these are the things that you know the skills you have your ways of Behaving or dressing or acting okay and they can be embodied so that's like how you behave and the things that are like in your brain or institutional Capital so you're
• 02:00 - 02:30 education or degrees that you have earned alright so this one is I think the sneakiest form of capital because maybe you um see someone who walks into a fancy restaurant they know how to talk to the Mater D they know how to dress they know which Forks to use when they eat and it seems like natural and like oh that person is just classy but in actuality that is cultural capital that they have a crew they have a crude or
• 02:30 - 03:00 accumulated through their lifetime maybe of being in those kinds of areas where they learn the rules maybe either from their parents or from their peers or even from TV okay so if they grew up in an environment like that where they're very accustomed to going to fancy restaurants or you know fancy hotels or important businesses then they feel more comfortable in that environment than
• 03:00 - 03:30 someone who didn't grow up with the access to those places maybe they don't have the economic capital to enter those places okay so that's cultural capital social capital is who you know your connections resources available to you based on group memberships and also access to networks of influence so let's say you get pulled over for a ticket and your relative is a cop and you say that that is using Social Capital to get out of paying a ticket so you're using your Social
• 03:30 - 04:00 Capital to make more or to protect your economic capital this could also be like you need an internship and um your parents know somebody who knows somebody and then you get a really cool internship or maybe your parents don't know anybody to get you an internship and so then you are left kind of looking for for yourself and you have to find um a good counselor or find a good professor who can help you develop those that kind of Social Capital to get the
• 04:00 - 04:30 cultural capital that you want all right next is symbolic Capital these are the honors you hold in your culture resources available to you based on honor Prestige or recognition so this could be like um let's see in when I was growing up John Elway was um a quarterback for the Denver Broncos I grew up in Colorado and he was super duper famous as an athlete and then he retired and then he parlayed that symbolic Capital into opening up
• 04:30 - 05:00 car dealerships and then he made way more economic capital through those successful dealerships based on his symbolic Capital probably also his Social Capital right he knew people he was able to make deals um and then maybe develop that cultural capital of how to be a good businessman in that Arena okay symbolic Capital could also be the ways that people read you like your race or ethnicity or your religion in a
• 05:00 - 05:30 certain environment in what he calls a habitus or the environment the habitat of that Arena that could be very positive for you or it could be work against you depending on on the situation okay it could also be Beauty how beautiful a person is considered or their physical characteristics those could be symbolic capital laughs all right so um and then interestingly he said that you could accumulate certain kinds of capital and
• 05:30 - 06:00 then exchange them for economic capital so the students who grew up in a rich family they accumulated cultural capital Social Capital probably they were born with symbolic capital and then they got into schools because they they knew how to write an essay to get in their parents put them in probably after school programs that developed special skills that were highly prized or highly valued by the schools maybe they have a really
• 06:00 - 06:30 famous last name or Legacy student and so they got that symbolic capital of the you know Rockefeller or something um and then they're able to uh and then they have whatever economic capital they need to get in like they don't have to probably pay a scholarship or pay for um sorry they don't have to get a scholarship from the school they can pay for themselves all of that makes it so it's much easier for them to get into the most prestigious schools and then their kids do the same it just goes on
• 06:30 - 07:00 and on right and then they take up a spot for other students who didn't grow up with those kinds of capital that kind of opportunity they have to work harder to get those opportunities um but he said um it takes a long time to accumulate Capital so for example it might take you a really long time to learn how to be you know an expert in cars for example or it might take you a
• 07:00 - 07:30 really long time to finish your degree and get that institutional capital or it might take you a long time of going to a certain Church to develop good social relationships with people that you can parlay those into job opportunities or other kinds of things all right so that's what I really like about his theory is that there's these different kinds of capitals and you can try to figure out what kinds you have or what kinds you want or what other people have and then also thinking about how we can
• 07:30 - 08:00 accumulate them and trade them for other things okay so that's how I used it with my book and that's why I'm having us read this chapter because I talk about how migrants from Peru who traveled to South Korea and were living in South Korea how they tried to accumulate certain different kinds of cultural social symbolic capital in order to convert it into different kinds of capital different kinds of opportunities for themselves I want us to read this
• 08:00 - 08:30 chapter and think what are the kinds of projects that they're working towards like what do they want to happen at the end of this migration and then what risks do they take in pursuing those projects so here's a picture of one of my interviewees and he gave me a tour of his apartment before church one day and then I was like what are these boxes and he was like oh yeah that's all my important stuff that I want to send home in case I get deported Okay so
• 08:30 - 09:00 um 85 of the peruvians who were living in Korea at this time this was like um at this point probably 20 2010. 85 of them were undocumented and they were trying to get enough work in order to send money home but um there was a really bad Global financial crisis happening at the time and they were having difficulties doing so so um and then they
• 09:00 - 09:30 um the immigration officers had really increased patrols of the areas where migrants lived and so there was like a daily risk just walking down the street or going to church or going shopping that you'd get picked up and sent home and then you wouldn't be able to go back to your apartment and get anything so he said oh yeah this is what we all do we keep our boxes packed with our most important stuff addressed to his mother's house in Peru and so his friends were instructed that if he was deported they should send it home so this is just um
• 09:30 - 10:00 you made me wonder as I was doing fieldwork like what would be worth the risk of that kind of trauma and that daily stress like is this what's gonna happen to me he's he was in um per or sorry in Korea alone he didn't have his family there they were living in Peru like and then he he was struggling to make money like everybody else because a lot of the factories had closed there wasn't a lot of places to work what is going to be the project that's worth this risk I was I was
• 10:00 - 10:30 really curious about that so we're going to read about a few different people and the projects they're trying to pursue and the risk that they're willing to take and then I wanted us to think about that those kinds of losses and and how over time even though you lose something you can still accumulate other kinds of capital all right so here's just a little bit of background for the book to make it um more understandable as you read but um Peruvian migration um is pretty widespread for example in contrast to Mexican
• 10:30 - 11:00 migration which is mostly to the United States almost um probably I'd say 95 of all Mexican migrants go to the United States but Peru is different they're spread out all over the world to at least 25 different destinations and here's a map like the the some are more desirable than others like the United States Spain Italy Japan during the time of my research those were the most desirable destinations for various reasons like earning potential
• 11:00 - 11:30 Prestige of location there was also sometimes people um had Spanish roots or Italian roots and then they were trying to get back there uh to kind of um they were able to get a Visa sometimes to work if they could demonstrate their connection to those countries people went to Korea because they would have rather gone to Japan or to the United States South Korea is not like a main destination for Peruvian migrants
• 11:30 - 12:00 um it's very far away as you can see to get there they had to go all around the world and um it it became much more harder much harder to get there after 9 11 because um the United States stopped allowing people without a visa to Transit through the country or even Transit through Mexico so they would have to fly sometimes to South Africa um and then or to Russia and then go to South Korea they were able to get in um because South Korea and Peru have a
• 12:00 - 12:30 Visa waiver agreement where you can go without applying for a tourist visa beforehand you just show up and you present yourself as a tourist and you are allowed in so that started to happen people were like oh you know Korea becomes a destination people know about from certain towns in in Peru not all over Peru but certain towns are like oh here Korea is an option let's go there let's establish ourselves and make some money and then try to get somewhere better but over time they start to like
• 12:30 - 13:00 it and they start to stay and they get jobs in factories here's a picture of men and women working in a factory that was the other benefit of going to South Korea versus other places like in um if people went to um like Germany for example or or other countries they only wanted female workers or they only wanted male workers but in South Korea both men and women could get jobs in factories even though women were paid less switch they thought was annoying for the same kind of work
• 13:00 - 13:30 sometimes people have their own businesses they this person had a business where he sold like little jewelry and trinkets and stuff to as a wholesale to other peruvians who then would go out and sell it in the streets and then this is um actually housing it's containers shipping containers that have been converted into migrant housing and this is actually where documented migrants worked so um the migrants who lived in here were had had visas and they were
• 13:30 - 14:00 not from Peru and I was able to tour kind of like the place where they lived but I included this here because um it was free to live in this housing so that was another benefit of going to Korea because you could live in the factory like on the factory grounds for free some meals were included and then all the money that you made you could send home versus living in Japan or in the United States you have to pay for your house you have to pay for your food you have to pay for your car um here you could just it was basically
• 14:00 - 14:30 like a liquid salary that you could send home um some of the the shipping containers were really nice inside and so we're not just like anywhere else um okay so over time I said they you know more peruvians started to come doing a chain migration and then they established a nice Community here's a restaurant called Machu Picchu and then I took this picture because out front they have um Korean Chili Peppers drying in the sun which is like kind of a quintessential thing to see on the street in Seoul this is outside of Seoul
• 14:30 - 15:00 but and then in front of it is a Peruvian restaurant um at the top there's um a Catholic Church kind of Celebration during Easter and they had different countries represented in Peru like that that group made food they joined Catholic churches and they also joined Protestant churches that started to really turn towards migrant workers as a new source of people to convert and then
• 15:00 - 15:30 um it you know South Korean churches were like oh peruvians now that's weird that's something new why don't you come in um and join our church and we'll give you your own congregation and so there were quite a few really large Peruvian congregations in various churches and it gave them opportunities to um you know go to school and to learn Korean or learn English or even plan future migrations to other places and that's kind of what the focus of the
• 15:30 - 16:00 chapter that you're going to read is about and then that's me when I was younger hanging out with some uh Peruvian ladies and a lot of them are married to Korean men and they had established families in Korea so they had gone originally just to stay for a short term and then they've fell in love and they stayed and they kind of established a community there um and then just the background remember we were talking about transnational and Global forces that impact people's migration choices I wanted to show you this so when I did a field work I did 24
• 16:00 - 16:30 months of field work between 2006 and 2011 and I took seven trips to I took trips to South Korea and to Peru and you can see them there they're color coded but what the chart is showing it's a graph of the Korean won to US dollar conversion rate over that time so when I first started going the the wand was strong against the dollar and what that meant was like when you make Korean Won that's the Korean currency
• 16:30 - 17:00 you can't just send it home as Korean Won if you're Peruvian because nobody can spend Korean one or convert Korean one in Peru you have to convert it first to US Dollars then send it home okay so it was a very high conversion rate it was almost it was like one to one basically if a person made one million won salary per month then they would be able to send home a thousand dollars a month which was a significant amount of money but by the time I went back for my main
• 17:00 - 17:30 field work which was about 2008 all of a sudden it plummets and well the first time people were talking about oh how can we become documented how can we stay in South Korea um during these next trips the the one went down so much that people could hardly send enough money home at all like instead of being able to send one thousand dollars home they could only send 600 home and so they had the same expenses at home so or they lost their
• 17:30 - 18:00 jobs entirely so they were like how am I going to you know survive here in South Korea what can I do to make the most of this situation how can I um like create a plan that's gonna help me and my family and and then um try to do that accumulate this kind of capital like for example some of them were like I need to stay here in South Korea long enough so that I'm able to accomplish whatever plan and so then
• 18:00 - 18:30 then when I am deported I'll be able to have more opportunities in the future okay so um those I call Cosmopolitan conversions and that's like my my edic analysis of what was going on so I said a Cosmopolitan conversion is a project or a plan that individuals or groups undertake in the effort to change their lives and help them be Cosmopolitan and then Cosmopolitan I Define that as a person who feels at home in the world so
• 18:30 - 19:00 they are comfortable with difference they have a lot of skills they're able to move around very freely in the world right and they they feel comfortable and and Powerful in that world and they have infinite ways of being not just thought as of sorry not just being thought of as undocumented economic minor workers but that other people see them as oh you're a student or you're a scholar you're a leader you're a business owner you're a family man you're a good church member
• 19:00 - 19:30 like they want to be seen as other things and they want to be recognized by others as being deserving of that new status because they have developed the right cultural social and symbolic capital so um I'm excited for you guys to read it and then um as you're reading it pick out a couple characters who you think are interesting and then try to identify the kinds of capital that they have and what they're trying to accumulate and then how they're trying to convert it into other kinds of capital and the losses that they face the risks and then is it
• 19:30 - 20:00 worth it what do you think