What is Aesthetic Capital? This question can be answered by none other than Giselinde Kuipers. Giselinde Kuipers is Research Professor at the Center for Sociological Research at KU Leuven University. As a cultural and comparative sociologist, she studies frivolous things and their serious consequences. In her work, she analyzes how cultural standards are shaped, for instance in humor, beauty, fashion, media, cycling and translation; and how such standards impact social inequalities, identities and interactions. In this first episode of the Connected World podcast, Doortje Smithuijsen and Giselinde Kuipers explore the definition and meaning of ‘Aesthetic Capital’.