The aim of this study is twofold: first, to assess the statistical significance of the data used by Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction; second, to test the hypothesis that the volume of capital (i.e., the global amount of capital) allows for a finer discrimination of dispositional differences than the composition of capital (i.e., the respective weight of the different types of capital in the global amount of capital). To these ends, five data samples were submitted to bilateral between-proportion comparison tests. The findings (1) reveal that about two-thirds of the differences reported by P. Bourdieu are significant and (2) support the view that the volume of capital prevails over its composition.
© 2015 Canadian Sociological Association/La Société canadienne de sociologie.