The purpose of this study is to investigate how high school students experience their knowledge in and interest for the subject of social science in relation to their socioeconomic status, and in this way draw attention to how socioeconomic differences affect the subject of social science. By socioeconomic status we mean a person’s level of education, occupational status and financial wealth, which in this study is examined by students answering questions about their parents ‘level of education, profession and financial wealth. This is related to students answers to how they view their knowledge in the subject of social science. The study is also related to Bourdieu’s theory of class in the form of capital forms. The study was conducted through surveys that were distributed to 53 students.
The results of the study show that socioeconomic status does not have any major impact on students’ knowledge in form of grades in social science. However, there are trends that show that socioeconomic status may have an impact on knowledge in social science. Especially in form of parent’s level of education in relations to the students with the highest and lowest grades.
Keywords: Socioeconomic, social science, grades, survey, Bourdieu