Social & Cultural Impacts of MDPCC
- Stephanie Vehnon
- Oct 27, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 25, 2019
**MDPCC = Mixed Doubles Provincial Curling Championship
What are Social and Cultural Capital?
In the MA Creative Events Management at Falmouth University, I was introduced to the concept of Social and Cultural Capital, both identified by Pierre Bourdieu as:
Social Capital (Figure 1) is "the sum of resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition" (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992: 119)
Cultural Capital (Video left) is "the cultural knowledge that serves as currency that helps us navigate culture and alters our experiences and the opportunities available to us"(Sociology Live, 2015). (Length: 5:29).
Why does this matter?
If cultural capital is what we know, and social capital is who we know, the value of these combined is immense. In the past, when the Chairs have recruited volunteers for this event, they go to people who have always been involved, therefore there is no social or cultural capital being built on or passed along. It is also important to bring in spectators, to increase networking and promotion of the Curling Club.
Social & Culture at Curling Events
It is important that we encourage the sub-Chairs to bring in new volunteers, new knowledge, and new creative perspectives.
We need to connect and engage diverse groups, so we have a future in curling, and so people will enjoy the sport.
My view and challenges
In Lethbridge there tends to be an identity associated with volunteers and spectators at curling events; they tend to draw older generations, and little diversity in cultures. How do we close that gap? How do we move away from the embodied state that curling is for older generations?
Internal Feeling: Current Management may be a barrier to younger generations, or varying cultures wanting to be involved in events at the Curling Club.
Challenges: Although Pierre presents excellent meanings on social and cultural capital, sometimes people are unwilling to learn new skill and knowledge, meet new people, or engage new people.
So, what can I do with this current state...
Obtaining feedback and furthering engagement
Lethbridge hosted the World Men's Curling in 2019, bringing people (volunteers and spectators) from all over the world, with different cultures and backgrounds. It may be worth speaking to the committee of this event, to see what forms of advertising they do, or feedback they hear from their volunteers and spectators. Curling Alberta may also be able to help us by sharing their experiences.

The CPS Model can help to bring new ideas, but we need a way to bring the people as well. Something like the Positive Engagement Model (Figure 2) may help, as it also is in the creativity component as well.
Applying Social and Cultural Capital
Goals:
Include diverse social and culture aspects at our curling event by encouraging new people to help plan the event or watch the curling event. This may include new forms of communications and marketing opportunities.
Gather information from younger generations, different cultures and current club members, to help understand the barriers and opportunities we are facing.
"Collaboration is like carbonation for fresh ideas. Working together bubbles up ideas you would not have come up with solo, which gets you further faster." ~Caroline Ghosn
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BLOG BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bourdieu, P. and L. P. D. Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
COLE, Nicki, Lisa. 2019. 'What is Cultural Capital? Do I Have it?'. ThoughtCo. [online]. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-cultural-capital-do-i-have-it-3026374 [accessed 5 November 2019].
Hasa. 2016. Difference Between Social and Cultural Capital. Available at: https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-social-and-vs-cultural-capital/ [accessed 13 November 2019].
KON, Olivia and Nicole Sharp. 2017. Pierre Bourdieu: Theory of Capital (Social and Cultural Capital) [YouTube Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5MdAjX4NU [accessed 15 November 2019].
Market Business News. 2019. What is Social Capital? Definition and Meaning. Retrieved from: https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/social-capital/ [accessed 3 November 2019]
PAGE, Stephen and Joanne Connell. 'Section 4: Impacts f events' in The Routledge Handbook of Events [e book] Routledge Ltd, pp 327-430. Available through Falmouth University Library.
ResearchGate. 2017. The Role of Communication in Enhancing Work Effectiveness of an Organization [Image: Figure 2]. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figure-no-3-The-positive-engagement-model-communication-perspective-Source-Ruck_fig3_316360042 [accessed 10 November 2019]
Sociology Live! 2015. Cultural Capital [Video File]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DBEYiBkgp8&t=37s. [accessed 15 November 2019].
STEMPL, Carl. 2005. Adult Participation Sports as Cultural capital: A Test of Bourdieu's Theory of the Field of Sports,40(4), 411-432. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690206066170
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