Abstract

In the late 20th – early 21st century, the theory of capital, with an enormous contribution to its development belonging to P. Bourdieu, had been used more often. The necessity and possibility of a bolder use of the theory of capital in the analysis and estimation of the situation in different spheres of public life is substantiated in the article. In particular, in the project “Paradigms of Education: Sociological Approach”, which was started in 2008 by sociologists of the Institute of Social Investigations at Daugavpils University, a significant part was assigned to the theory of capital. It is aimed at elucidating how different factors of capital influence the life strategies of the young and which paradigm of education meets the challenges of the 21st century. The objective of the investigation was to overcome the fragmentariness of the use of the theory of capital. To achieve the objective, an extensive classification of the types of capital has been worked out; the indicators of their measuring have been introduced. As to the novelties of the investigation, they are as follows: determining the volume of total capital and of its separate types, the age specificity of real and desirable resources and their use Hile realizing life strategies, the basic factors that determine the total capital of a personality and the dynamics of its structure in different age groups of the present youth. On the whole, the empirical data have proven the hypothesis that the volume of capital of a personality depends on the level of education, income and on the life strategy. The increase of total capital may be found in all three age groups of the young aimed at the strategy of success