Intergenerational Poverty Reproduction and Lower-Class Habitus:An Analysis of Social, Cultural, and Economic Capital in Perpetuating Structural Inequality from a Bourdieusian Perspective
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This article examines the phenomenon of intergenerational poverty reproduction through the analytical lens of Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theory, focusing on the roles of social, cultural, and economic capital in perpetuating structural inequality. Drawing on a systematic literature review of scholarly publications from 2018 to 2025, the study argues that poverty is not merely a condition of material deprivation but a deeply embedded social and symbolic reality reproduced through class-specific habitus, field dynamics, and the unequal distribution of capital forms. The analysis demonstrates that lower-class habitus — shaped through early socialization, restricted access to legitimate culture, and symbolic violence — functions as a self-perpetuating mechanism that limits upward social mobility even when structural opportunities nominally exist. The interplay between economic capital scarcity, restricted cultural capital transmission, and bonding-only social networks creates compounding disadvantages that are systematically misrecognized as natural or meritocratic outcomes. The article proposes a Bourdieusian framework for understanding poverty reproduction and offers implications for policy interventions aimed at disrupting capital deficit cycles. Findings underscore the necessity of moving beyond individualistic explanations of poverty toward structurally informed approaches that target field conditions and capital inequalities.
Keywords: Bourdieu, habitus, capital, intergenerational poverty, structural inequality, social reproduction, field theory
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