The purpose of this study is to examine how school meals are organized in a selection of Stockholm's secondary schools and to examine the relationship between school meals and the different parameters that indicate each school's symbolic capital and educational capital. By looking at the statistics from each school on the basis of the final grade average, percentage of pupils with foreign background and gender, I examine whether it is possible to see a relationship between how schools organize meals and which pupils attend the school.  In my study, I systematically went through each school's website and tried to identify how school meals at each school are organized. To increase the validity of the study, I have also conducted a questionnaire survey by mail addressed to school principals.   In order to analyse and understand my results and put them in relation to my current knowledge about the schools in my sample, I am using Bourdieu's theoretical tools that a given aid, both in methodological and analytical purpose. Based on Bourdieu's theories of symbolic capital, cultural capital and educational capital, I can understand and analyse school meals are organized and focused as part of schools' symbolic assets in competition with other schools.   The first part of the study shows that there are four different organizational models for school meals, fully equipped kitchen and canteen, heating kitchen and canteen, school meals in restaurants and school meal card.    In the second part, I have examined the relationship between the type of organization for school meals used and the symbolic resources available at the school. I can conclude from the results that it is difficult to find a correlation between the symbolic resources and the different categories. But even though it is not possible to see all the schools' symbolic assets equally clear, there are still some very telling examples. In many ways, these examples can be seen as polar opposites to each other based on Mikael Palme’s concepts ”goal rational” and ”education oriented” schools.

I uppsatsen undersöks kulturellt och annat symbolisk kapital hos läkarstudenter vid Karolinska Institutet. Det teoretiska ramverket utgörs av Pierre Bourdieu. I studien jämförs läkarstudenternas investeringar i utbildning, mediavanor och andra kulturella aktiviter med fyra andra elitinriktade utbildningsprogram i Stockholmsområdet. Studien har en kvantitativ del med data insamlat genom en postal enkät till högskolestudenter och en kvalitativ del med personliga intervjuer med läkarstudenter på termin fyra på Karolinska Institutet. Studien visar att läkarstudenterna har mycket gemensamt med studenter vid de andra utbildningarna men att det särkskiljer sig i vissa avseenden. Bland annat framkommer att de har ett altruistiskt synsätt som de menar varit avgörande för deras utbildnings- och yrkesval. Att de vill bli läkare, inte bara för att få ett välbetalt, intressant och prestigefyllt arbete utan för att de vill göra gott för andra. / This thesis examines cultural and other symbolic capital amongst medical students in a Bourdian sense. Medical students at Karolinska Institutet, a Swedish medical university, were compared to four other prestige full educational programs in the Stockholm area. Investments in educational capital, media habits and other cultural investments were compered. The data was collected at an earlier stage at Uppsala University using a postal questionnaire. The data was strengthening with interviews with the medical students.  The medical students demonstrated that they had a lot in common with students from the other elitist education programs that was part of the study. However they also had an extra dimension that was not found amongst the other students and that was a sense of an altruistic thought, e.g. that they wanted to “do good” and that was the reason why they wanted to become doctors.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur tillägnandet av skriftspråk kan bidra till kulturellt kapital med fokus på vad den processen innebär för individen. Urvalet har varit målstyrt och vänt sig till personer som har förändrat sin egen situation och uppnått akademiska eller yrkesrelaterade framsteg. Studien visar att när tillägnandet av skriftspråk bidrar till kulturellt kapital och social rörlighet resulterar det i att individen upplever en förändring i sitt habitus. En process som kan utmana individens möjlighet till att utifrån ett socialt- och psykologiskt perspektiv uppleva tillhörighet i de nya medelklassammanhangen. Det påverkar även individens tidigare familj- och vänskapsrelationer. Studien visar därtill att tillägnandet av skriftspråk kan ha en terapeutisk funktion för ett barn som har ett socialt problem och befinner sig i en utsatt situation. Studien visar att ett kulturellt kapital utvecklas av individens exponering för litteratur, behov av att uttrycka sig och tillfredsställelse i att skriva. Att tillägna sig skriftspråket bidrar till en upplevelse av att vidhålla egenmakt och förmågan att medverka i och påverka samhället. / The purpose of the study was to investigate how the acquisition of written language can contribute to cultural capital with a focus on what that process means for the individual. The selection has been goal-oriented and aimed at people who have created change for themselves and achieved academic and/or professional progress. The study shows that when the acquisition of written language contributes to cultural capital and social mobility, it results in the individual experiencing a change in their habitus. A process that can challenge the individual's ability to experience belonging in the new middle-class contexts from a social and psychological perspective. It also affects the individual's previous relationships to family and friends. The study also shows that the acquisition of written language can have a therapeutic function for a child who has a social problem and is socially vulnerable. The study shows that cultural capital is developed by the individual's exposure to literature, need for expression and satisfaction in writing. Acquiring the written language contributes to an experience of maintaining autonomy and the ability to participate in and influence society.