Influences of cultural capital on junior secondary school students’ musical preferences in Hong Kong, China

Influences of cultural capital on junior secondary school students’ musical preferences in Hong Kong, China

• Kong, Siu Hang Eric Hong Kong Baptist University

Current Politics and Economics of Northern and Western Asia, 28(1), 1-22, 2019

Nova Science Publishers

2019

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GF Humanities & Arts

Musical Preferences Cultural Capital Junior Secondary School Students

• Hong Kong
• China

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

The relationship between individuals' possession of cultural capital and their musical preferences has been extensively examined in Western society; however, little attention has been given to it in contemporary Chinese contexts. Based on Bourdieu's (1973, 1986) concept of cultural capital, this study focuses on junior secondary school students' (Grades Seven to Nine) preferred musical listening styles, and their perception of how their parents' and their own cultural capital have shaped their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong society. Two research questions are addressed: (1) How does parental cultural capital influence students' cultural capital? (2) To what extent does students' cultural capital shape their musical preferences in contemporary Hong Kong society? A survey questionnaire was distributed to nine Hong Kong secondary schools in the summer of 2015, followed by an interview survey conducted in the spring of 2016. Based on a synthesis of the 1,614 completed questionnaires and 28 in-depth individual interviews, the quantitative and qualitative findings provide nuanced insights into students' perceptions of their musical preferences, and how one's cultural capital shapes one's musical preferences, in a Hong Kong context. This study finds that the students' music listening not only served as an aesthetic and leisure activity, but also as a means of inculcating cultural capital-proficiency of English-that is legitimate in Hong Kong and deemed an influential factor in school performance. The study also shows that through technological advancements, more specifically a readilyavailable platform for accessing comprehensive musical resource databases, a new factor has emerged that weakens the relationship between familial social status and students' musical preferences and leads to more autonomous music listening behaviour. In addition, students' musical cultural capital, which is transformed from their parents' cultural capital, may directly and explicitly inform their musical listening behaviour. Further supplementing and revisiting Bourdieu's cultural capital by considering technological invention and conceptualising cultural capital in Hong Kong society, this study offers a new insight on how cultural capital influences one's musical preferences and contributes to students' academic success in contemporary Chinese societies. Given the extensive penetration of technology in all sectors, the study also offers recommendations on how music educators could assist students' music listening by using technological devices to develop their music learning in a more enriched and complete manner. Copyright © 2019 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

• English

Journal Articles

• 21585865

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/9f65c272

2022-12-16