It’s not just about poverty: Capital, inequality, and antisocial behaviour in schools

Many studies about antisocial behaviour (ASB) in the school environment are based on a single conceptual and theoretical framework, producing partial results that limit our understanding of the problem. Using a more inclusive approach, this paper uses survey data from the educational system in Mexico to explore the relationship between the forms of capital introduced by Bourdieu (1986), their associated inequalities, and the perception of ASB of students of secondary schools. The results show that social capital was the only form of capital with a consistent effect across all types of schools and localities. Economic and cultural capital and their associated inequalities were linked to the perception of ASB but only amongst students of some types of schools and localities. It is concluded that further analyses must take into account various aspects at the individual and school level, but particularly understand the unique characteristics of different environments.