HEI's as Lifestyle Brands - A Review of Social Media Posts With Pierre Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital Theory; A Case Study of Sri Lankan Non-State HEI

Purpose: The research focuses on lifestyle brands set out to identify the different financial displays of social class and status associated with them. Lifestyle brands that are focused on are important for the choices made. Pierre Bourdieu's Cultural Capital Theory illustrates how social inequalities are represented beyond money. Bourdieu argued that capital isn't just economic (money, property). It also comes in cultural, social, and symbolic forms. These forms can be converted into one another. Cultural capital is the knowledge, skills, tastes, and credentials that confer higher status in society.
Methodology: This study employs a qualitative, theory-driven methodology grounded in Pierre Bourdieu’s Cultural Capital Theory. Forty-eight (48) higher education institutions were purposively selected to maximise variation along Bourdieusian axes: institutional age (older vs newer), regional vs global orientation, and dominant objectified capital style (heritage architecture vs modern premium amenities). A total of 1200 posts were collected from their public Facebook and Instagram pages (25 per institution).
Findings: Institutions deploy objectified cultural capital (premium amenities, campus aesthetics) and appeal to habitus (regional language use, alumni success narratives) across visual platforms like Instagram. Regional content shared dispositions, while objectified displays presuppose middle-class ease. Alumni and graduation ceremonies showcase institutionalised capital, filled with traditions, festivities, student life, institutional legacy and affiliation, and economic success. Engagement reflects habitus matching rather than neutral interest, revealing how lifestyle branding reproduces class distinctions.
Originality: Higher education has increasingly functioned as a lifestyle brand – a brand that is part of CV, reference group and peers. The phenomenon that Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital helps to serves as a mechanism of social distinction. This study examines how branding higher education as a lifestyle construct creates a unique advocacy.