Cultural Capital and Social Mobility in Katherine Mansfield’s 'The Garden Party': A Bourdieusian Analysis

Abstract

This study  focuses on short story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield by applying the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu cultural capital, symbolic capital, and habitus to discuss how the text portrays and criticizes the issue of class distinction. Although a lot of work has been done on the modernist style and application of symbolism in Mansfield, little has been done to systematically study how her narrative represents social inequality through cultural and symbolic mediums. The problem of the research is the continuation of privilege that is not merely the economic phenomenon, but the cultural and symbolic order that is perpetuated by taste, aesthetics and social rituals. The research has three aims, which are to examine the cultural representation of class distinction using cultural practices and symbols, to determine how cultural and symbolic capital operates to uphold hierarchies, and to examine the limits of empathy used by Laura Sheridan to confront established structures of the class. The study focuses on a qualitative method and is based on Bourdieu theory of practice in which the primary text is read and analyzed using the textual analysis technique and the secondary criticism as the secondary sources. The findings shows that cultural practices like the garden party preparations act as performances of the cultural capital whereas the items like the hat that Laura wears represent both cultural and symbolic capital that facilitate the perpetuation of social inequalities. Besides, the fact that Laura temporarily realizes the inequality demonstrates a conflict between personal empathy and the limitations of the habitus that finally states the limits of privilege. The study also finds that “The Garden Party” dramatizes cultural and symbolic reproduction of class alongside a revelation of the limits of personal sympathy concerning the interruption of structural inequality thereby engaging Mansfield scholarship and the wider field of literature.