While theatre visits are considered a factor in ‘cultural capital’ it seems libraries and librarians don’t figure at all in either cultural or social capital. Those terms are key in the analysis in Mike Savage’s new book “social class in the 21^st century” (one of those brilliant new Pelican Introductions. (https://www.worldcat.org/title/social-class-in-the-21st-century/oclc/927396725&referer=brief_results ).  He uses evidence from the BBC’s ‘Great British Class Survey’ as well as other sources (that overcome some of the bias in the BBC survey).

 

It’s an interesting analysis and the book has been well reviewed---but libraries and librarians are not mentioned *at all*. (Well as far as I can see so far).  From this it appears  the evidence suggests libraries and librarians do not factor in cultural or social capital. So is that true? If not where is the solid evidence that Mike Savage and his team has ignored?

 

There has been some library related literature-for example: “Libraries and cultural capital’ By Anne Goulding (http://lis.sagepub.com/content/40/4/235.full.pdf+html ) but her analysis seems to confirm this ‘invisibility: “Although libraries and librarians would seem to fit this role very well, they are rarely, if ever, mentioned.” This too resonates with the comment from William Sieghart about the use (or rather non use) of libraries.

 

It seems quite alarming......

 

Ken

Ken Chad Consulting Ltd Tel: +44(0)7788727845  http://www.kenchadconsulting.com Twitter: @kenchad Skype: kenchadconsulting