Digital Capital as a Sociological Construct: Interrelations between family, school and adolescent competence development

This essay offers a sociological reflection on the concept of digital capital, building on Bourdieu’s (1986) notion of specific capital. Digital capital may be defined as the set of material resources – technologies, digital services, and experimental projects involving devices – and immaterial resources - such as digital competences – available within a given field or social space, for instance the school or the family. These resources may be mobilised by different actors (e.g. teachers, students, school staff, school leaders) to achieve specific objectives (Ragnedda, 2018; Ragnedda, Ruiu, & Addeo, 2019). According to the Bourdieusian perspective, digital capital should not be interpreted in isolation, but always in relation to other forms of capital – economic, cultural and social – within circumscribed contexts, adopting a multidimensional approach that moves from a macro to a micro-social perspective (Pandolfini, 2016). Within this essay, the reflection will focus on the impact of social capital, primarily school-based, on the development of adoscents' digital capital, with reference to their digital competences.