ABSTRACT
The word family evokes a myriad of images that span the life course—from woman breastfeeding her newborn child to adult children caring for their aging parents. The most pervasive representation of family in modern Western societies is nuclear family or two parents and their children, often in a patriarchal structure. A psychoanalytic approach emphasizes interdependence of culture, family and society, while simultaneously bringing into question underlying hierarchical and moralistic assumptions embedded in their conception and study. Frazier's early conception of the family as principal transmitter of sociocultural outcomes foreshadowed in a way the ascendance of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital, cultivated through his study of inequality in the French educational system and critical engagement with Marxist theory. Family configuration has a strong influence on a family's ability and likelihood of providing ideal conditions for their children's education. The importance of supplemental education for enriching the intellectual capacities and development of children has been long echoed by Gordon.
