Seventeenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Intercultural capital is a dynamic concept that stems from Bourdieu’s sociocultural capital theory and is a valuable asset in our globalized world. Intercultural capital includes cultural experiences, relationships, and rationalities, as well as skills and competencies for successful interaction with cultural others. It can serve as a marker of differences, cultural particularities, and sociocultural distinction, and it is (re)produced in a variety of contexts where its exchange value is likely to be retained, if not increased (field-transcendence). The concept of intercultural capital can be useful for teachers, particularly those who work with students from diverse cultural backgrounds, in developing a practical intercultural awareness for the global interconnected world we live in, paving the way for significant (inter)personal and social benefits. Intercultural capital can be used to analyze the relationship between educational background, cultural patterns, attitudes, and lifestyle. An increased intercultural capital may lead to more beneficial choices for the teacher’s personal and professional development, preventing social exclusion and ethnocentric thinking. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors of intercultural social capital of thirty selected Greek teachers and preschool educators. Using the social capital questionnaire developed by Onyx and Bullen (SCQ) in Greece and Australia, researchers explore the factors of intercultural social capital and their correlation to intercultural awareness. Extensive analysis focuses on the relation of the field (Australian-Greek) and the development of the intercultural social capital.