Social class inequalities in attitudes towards mathematics and achievement in mathematics cross generations: a quantitative Bourdieusian analysis

Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of social and cultural reproduction, this article utilizes the conceptual tools of habitus and cultural capital to examine intergenerational inequalities in attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics learning in three secondary schools in England. Data from 1079 students aged 14–16 included mathematics achievement, survey measures of attitudes towards mathematics, perceived parental attitudes towards mathematics, newly developed scales for cultural capital and habitus, and social class. There was a very strong relationship between student’s attitudes towards mathematics and students’ perceptions of their parents’ attitudes towards mathematics. Middle-class students reported more positive attitudes towards mathematics, more positive perceived parental attitudes towards mathematics, and had higher mathematics achievement than working-class students. Cultural capital had a significant positive effect on students’ attitudes towards mathematics but a minor effect on their achievement in mathematics. However, cultural capital’s effect on students’ attitudes and achievement in mathematics faded when habitus was included in the model. We suggest that habitus may play a more central role than cultural capital in the reproduction of mathematics inequalities. School quality had a modest but significant impact on mathematics outcomes in this study, so we argue that challenges to mathematics inequalities will require changes both within and outside of mathematics classrooms. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10649-021-10078-5.