ABSTRACT
This chapter clarifies the disciplinary origins of the forms of capital and funds of knowledge (FK), and to highlight the strengths, as well as the tensions, that complicate the understanding and the use of these notions to study issues of equity, power, and pedagogical change in the field of education. It elaborates on important aspects and distinctions that educational researchers must understand and acknowledge when utilizing these concepts. The chapter discusses the notion of social capital; and turns to the concept of cultural capital and includes a careful discussion of habitus and field. It presents the concept of funds of knowledge. It concludes with a discussion of how the frameworks can be used collaboratively to assist educational researchers in developing a better understanding of power relations and change in educational institutions. A complementary conceptual framework can also have important practice and policy implications, since empirical analysis, especially equity-based research that informs policy, must be more theory laden.
