CULTURAL CAPITAL, LITERACY AND CULTURE FACTORIES IN SÃO PAULO

Abstract

This paper aims to record the results obtained in the Master’s Dissertation research of the Education Program: History, Policy, Society, entitled Cultural Capital and Literacy: participants of the Cultural Factories program in São Paulo, conducted by Heloisa Marcassa Monteiro. The research was built from a theoretical framework based on the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu, Bernard Lahire and the Theory of Literacy. The proposal was to understand the Theatrical Project of the ‘Jardim São Luís’ Cultural Factory (Projeto Espetáculo da Fábrica de Cultura do Jardim São Luís), on the one hand, as an extrahour school work activity and, on the other hand, as a cultural capital promoter space. In developing the concept of cultural capital and its incorporation into the activities of the Project, the contribution of increased cultural capital towards literacy of the participants was also analyzed. The research established analysis categories to understand the incorporation of cultural capital as a way to develop skills and competences defined as important to literacy. This article intends to expand the conclusions that made to affirm the hypothesis raised during the dissertation mentioned possible: the Theatrical Project of the Cultural Factory Program, of the Cultural Secretariat of the Government of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, can contribute to overcoming deficits arising from the cultural capital of young students and, as a consequence, to promote improvements in the degree of literacy of the participants.