Culture as a Determinant of Health and Well-being: Expanding the Concept of Cultural Capital

Abstract Introduction Cultural capital, conceptualized by Bourdieu, is a form of individual capital facilitating social mobility. Although local culture has been recognized as important in global health interventions, epidemiology, which is a key discipline evaluating such interventions, lacks conceptual frameworks and tools to measure cultural capital. This paper aims to identify challenges in adapting Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital to public health and epidemiology, and to provide proposals to address them. Methods A theory adaptation approach, drawing on insights from public health, epidemiology, cultural anthropology, and related fields. Results and Discussion We identify five key challenges: 1. the epistemological divergence between Bourdieu’s focus on power structures and public health’s focus on health promotion; 2. the need to consider intervention-oriented cultural capital concept; 3. the need to assess cultural capital at the collective level; 4. the need for cultural capital concept that encompasses human nature beyond the social space; and 5. the unclear and inconsistent definitions of culture across research fields. For each challenge, we propose corresponding conceptual frameworks to facilitate the integration of cultural capital into public health and epidemiological research. Finally, we discuss the collective and existential properties of cultural and other forms of capital, arguing the liberating and constraining effects of capital (e.g., the risks of stereotyping specific subpopulations). Conclusion This study represents an initial step toward establishing cultural epidemiology as a field that quantitatively assesses the role of culture in shaping health and well-being. Future empirical research is needed to operationalize and apply these frameworks.