Cultural capitalists and their symbolic violence.

Reading about Pierre Bourdieu in theses and articles, you might wonder when his critical fangs were removed. This post returns to Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture by Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) to repair his bite. Reproduction means how the cultural status quo is reproduced. It has two parts, or 'Books', the first theoretical, the second an application to French society. I am focusing here on Book 1.
It is the result of a partnership in which every sentence and paragraph was poured over and constantly redrafted to produce the most rational argument they could for the science of society. At its centre is Power, held and exerted by those with influence who set all significant agendas. They control what is taken to be truth and knowledge by allowing no doubt, debate or counter voices: this is a process of symbolic violence. The education system is a site of this symbolic violence, as the curriculum is controlled formally and informally by the arbitary decisions and agendas of those in power (arbitrary is the opposite of rational). Where the link between the decision and its genesis in power is hidden, the violence is illegitimate: the imposed interpretation is claimed to be the only truth.  A pedagogic action is, in objective terms, symbolic violence where it is arbitrarily imposed. The claim for privilege implies pedagogic authority and those who are allowed to exert it are carefully policed and trained so that the arbitrary conditions of privilege are reproduced in the next generation. This pedagogic work is inculcated to produce a durable internalisation of the principles and assumptions (habitus). Opposition to the habitus are subject to sanctions and punishments to police the privilege. The assumptions are declared legitimate (consecrated) and at the same time their genesis in power is obscured: the interpretations are simply declared to be true. The edifice of this privilege is built with symbolic artefacts, which combine to make a culture. These symbolic artefacts can be viewed as cultural capital using a financial metaphor. The privileged are 'rich' with cultural mechanisms to impress and gain status. Critical analysts of society need to uncover the arbitrariness and decouple truth and knowledge from power and privilege.
Applying this, the church and governments are viewed as privileged power holders; the working class and immigrants are the losers. Social justice demands that we work to overturn such privilege and expose its arbitrariness.