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7 Social inequality and educational decisions in the life course

Soziale Ungleichheit und Bildungsentscheidungen im Lebensverlauf

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Abstract

Research has consistently shown that social origin has exceptionally strong effects on educational outcomes in Germany. Aside from primary effects of social origin, there are especially strong secondary effects. The reasons for these differences in educational decisions when academic abilities are held constant are not clear. Several theoretical approaches claim to explain the association between social origin and educational decisions. These approaches are rational choice theory and different versions of bounded rationality, theories based on the relevance of values, social norms, and reference groups, social capital theory, and cultural capital theory. However, the necessary data for simultaneously judging the relative merits of these approaches is not yet available. In particular, there is a lack of consistent measures across all relevant educational stages over the life course. Longitudinal data would be a great advantage for determining the causal effect of the factors under consideration. At present, available data is restricted to a single educational decision and either cross-sectional or restricted to locally defined samples. Pillar 3 of the German National Educational Panel Study aims to measure the relevant factors for explaining educational decisions and inequality in educational opportunity in all relevant stages over the life course.

Zusammenfassung

Die bisherige Forschung zeigt klar, dass die soziale Herkunft in Deutschland einen außergewöhnlich starken Einfluss auf den Bildungserfolg hat. Neben primären Effekten der sozialen Herkunft gibt es besonders starke sekundäre Effekte. Die Gründe für diese unterschiedlichen Bildungsentscheidungen unter Konstanthaltung der Kompetenzen sind unklar. Mehrere theoretische Ansätze beanspruchen die Erklärung des Zusammenhangs zwischen sozialer Herkunft und Bildungsentscheidungen. Dies sind insbesondere die Rational-Choice-Theorie und verschiedene Ansätze beschränkter Rationalität, Erklärungen die auf der Bedeutung von Werten, sozialen Normen und Bezugsgruppen basieren, sowie Theorien zu Sozialkapital und Kulturkapital. Die notwendigen Daten zur simultanen Überprüfung des Erklärungsgehalts dieser Theorien sind allerdings bis jetzt nicht vorhanden. Darüber hinaus gibt es keine konsistenten Messungen über alle wichtigen Bildungsetappen im Lebensverlauf hinweg. Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt beschränkt sich das verfügbare Datenmaterial jeweils auf eine Bildungsentscheidung und ist entweder querschnittlich oder regional beschränkt. Längsschnittliche Daten sind aber von großem Vorteil bei der Analyse des kausalen Effektes der relevanten Erklärungsfaktoren. Säule 3 des Nationalen Bildungspanels hat das Ziel, die relevanten Faktoren zur Erklärung von Bildungsentscheidungen und Ungleichheit von Bildungschancen in allen relevanten Etappen über den Lebensverlauf zu erfassen.

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Notes

  1. Other theoretical constructs pertaining to the decision formation, namely motivational concepts are discussed in Chap. 10, this volume.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Sociology with an Emphasis on Longitudinal Educational Research, University of Bamberg, 96045, Bamberg, Germany

    Volker Stocké

  2. Chair of Sociology I, University of Bamberg, 96045, Bamberg, Germany

    Hans-Peter Blossfeld

  3. National Educational Panel Study, University of Bamberg, 96045, Bamberg, Germany

    Kerstin Hoenig &  Michaela Sixt

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  1. Volker Stocké
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  2. Hans-Peter Blossfeld
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Correspondence to Volker Stocké.

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Stocké, V., Blossfeld, HP., Hoenig, K. et al. 7 Social inequality and educational decisions in the life course. Z Erziehungswiss 14 (Suppl 2), 103–119 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-011-0193-4

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