Abstract
In this paper we address three questions related to Bourdieu's cultural capital theory. First, which aspects of parental cultural capital foster the educational attainment of children? Second, have cultural resources become more important and economic resources less important in the past half a century? Third, do only higher status groups benefit from these resources or are they especially beneficial for children with a low status background? Data from the repeated cross-sectional retrospective life-course Family Surveys Dutch Population collected in 1992, 1998, and 2000 offer appropriate and accurate family background measurements. The results show that in sharp contrast to what cultural capital theory predicts, in the highest status groups parental cultural resources do not affect educational attainment. Parental beaux-arts participation and parental popular reading only affect the educational performance of children with a low status background. Parental literary reading is not relevant to either higher or lower status groups. As regards the general impact of cultural and economic resources, no clear trend between the cohorts could be detected
