Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2010 number 3

Social capital as a key characteristic of the substantive field of network structures is increasingly identified as one of the basic resources that determine the capabilities and status of individuals in modern society. This paper examines the role of education in formation and functioning of social capital, the authors give an overview of the evolution of this concept in conjunction with the vision of the role of education as a factor of its formation. To identify the basic correlations, the authors used the concepts of «symbolic capital» and «symbolic power» proposed by Bourdieu. On one hand, education is considered as a factor of growth of symbolic power for the individual, on the other hand, as a factor of formation of network structures, often acting as the agents of symbolic power. The authors consider also some variants of the influence of education on the possible application of social capital.