Abstract: When the class differentiation is becoming more and more obvious in current China, the role of cultural capital in educational inequality and social stratification has attracted scholars' extensive attention. This paper compares the operation logic of cultural capital in the middle class and working class families so as to explore how the intergenerational transmission of cultural capital shapes the class difference and promotes social class reproduction. The result shows that middle class and working class parents have different behavioral patterns in the intergenerational transmission of cultural capital and the "triple reproduction" of cultural capital is realized in family, school, and educational institutions. It results in children's differences in terms of their cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Both parents and children are participants in educational inequality and social reproduction. The intergenerational transmission of cultural capital further defines class boundaries, increases class gaps and inequality, reduces class mobility, and even forms class barriers.

Key words: cultural capital, intergenerational transmission, class difference, influence