ABSTRACT

One’s culture has the capacity to nurture and empower. Thereby, college students rely on their cultural capital to persist and graduate. However, the current system of higher education favors one type of culture over others, which presents a number of challenges for those who are members of the non-dominant groups, such as Latinxs, first-generation students, and student-athletes. As such, this study sought to explore the interplay of various forms of cultural capital as pathways to degree attainment of first-generation Latinx student-athletes. Under the guise of Latinx critical race theory, this qualitative study found cultural capital to be an essential pathway to degree attainment of first-generation Latinx student-athletes. Specifically, three themes emerged from the findings: (1) immigration status as a source of inspiration; (2) embracing Latinx cultural capital in athletic endeavors; and (3) fighting negative stigma about Latinxs through athletic and academic achievement. The study concludes with implications for practice as well as recommendations for future research.

摘要

一个人的文化具有培育和赋权的能力。从而，大学生依靠文化资本坚持下去并毕业。然而，当前的高等教育体系偏向于一种文化而不是其他文化，这给拉丁裔、第一代学生和学生运动员等非主导群体的成员带来了许多挑战。因此，本研究试图探索各种形式的文化资本的相互作用，作为第一代拉丁裔学生运动员获得学位的途径。在拉丁裔批判种族理论的幌子下，这项定性研究发现文化资本是第一代拉丁裔学生运动员获得学位的重要途径。具体来说，调查结果出现了三个主题：(1) 以移民身份作为灵感来源；(2) 在体育运动中拥抱拉丁文化资本；(3) 通过运动和学术成就来对抗拉丁裔的负面耻辱。该研究最后提出了对实践的影响以及对未来研究的建议。