Accumulation and Anticipation

A Temporal Reframing of Social and Cultural Capital

Bibliographic Data

ID21391171
AuthorsMichael Carolan (0000-0002-2691-0454, Colorado State University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume91
Issue2
Publication date2026-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRural Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-0112 • E-ISSN: 1549-0831
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ruso.70056
OpenAlexW7165150557
LanguageEN
References cited28

This paper argues that social and cultural capital are not only accumulations of past ties, credentials, and dispositions but also temporally oriented resources aligned with anticipated futures. Although capital is theorized as generative and field‐dependent, empirical measures typically operationalize it retrospectively, tracking established networks and recognized identities rather than actors' positioning amid emerging social, economic, and ecological change. I introduce the concept of anticipatory capital to capture these temporal alignments, distinguishing between capital that reinforces inherited pathways and capital that repositions actors toward evolving fields. Integrating this perspective clarifies why individuals, households, and communities with comparable capital stocks experience divergent outcomes during periods of rapid transition. By making temporal alignment explicit, anticipatory capital clarifies how social and cultural assets fluctuate in value as fields evolve, sharpening analyses of inequality, resilience, and vulnerability and offering a framework for assessing how communities prepare for—or resist—structural transformation

Capital (architecture) · Cognitive reframing · Cultural capital · Economic capital · Generative grammar · Individual capital · Operationalization · Social capital · Social reproduction · Vulnerability (computing) · Place Attachment and Urban Studies · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks

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