Social science research on communities of color has long been shaped by theories of social and cultural capital. This article is a hermeneutic reading of metaphorical capital frameworks, including community cultural wealth and funds of knowledge. Financial capital, the basis of these frameworks, is premised on unequal exchange. Money only becomes capital when it is not spent, but is instead invested, manipulated, and exploited. Metaphorical capitals have been criticized as imprecise, falsely quantitative, and inequitable. Some research assumes that, rather than reinforcing economic class, metaphorical capital somehow nullifies class or replaces economic capital. Yet marginalized students, by definition, have been excluded by dominant culture. Compared to low socioeconomic status (SES) students of color, high SES students have a wealth of capital, in all forms. Metaphorical capital conjures the economic worldview of capitalism, imposing a capitalist, market-based worldview. Frameworks of metaphorical capital use neoliberal vocabulary, arguably endorsing capitalism's hegemony. The supposed metaphorical capital is not capital at all; by presenting it as capital, researchers' goals become inconsistent with their own theoretical frameworks. There may be better ways to theorize culture. This article concludes by proposing four frameworks-possibilities that interpret culture without relying on capital.
IDEAS is the undocumented student support group at University of California Los Angeles. This ethnography follows their planning of a conference on immigrant rights legislation. How do undocumented immigrants engage in active citizenship? Patterns of student activism are seen during the conference planning process. IDEAS members emulate Freirean ideals. Schwarzenegger expressed sympathy, but issued vetoes; students learn leadership on their own terms and learn organizing on professors' terms. Despite their agency, IDEAS members are disenfranchised and marginalized in specific ways. For university support services, the political engagement of undocumented activists raises important issues. For researchers, this illuminates gaps between conceptualizations of active citizenship and legal citizenship.
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