The media chess Grandmaster: cultural capital intensified by social capital

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the conditions of transmission and the meanings of production of the dispositions accumulated by one of the Brazilian chess Grandmasters, considering this modality a practice that is a cultural heritage of humanity and that belongs to the educational field. The data production method was based on a retrospective semi-structured in-person interview with the participant and its analysis occurred through Pierre Bourdieu's modus operandi and sociological categories, in addition to the complementary contribution of Reflective Thematic Analysis. The main results and discussions point to a trajectory guided by the accumulation of a family cultural heritage intensified, in its capitals, by an extensive network of relationships also cultivated mainly by social capitals instigated by the family. The resourcefulness and vast relational circle cultivated exert a strong influence on the current position occupied by the agent, who acts in the processes of massification and popularization of the modality through the production of instructive and educational content in the internet circle. He is an agent who, therefore and despite his mastery, breaks with a certain elitism and deciphers a universe known and recognized as being indecipherable. It is concluded that the unveiling of hidden mechanisms along its path contributes to the strengthening of a contextual, complex and relational perspective on which a life story is based. In every way opposed, therefore, to essentialist explanations such as meritocratic for the basis of prolonged and successful performance.