Educational Careers and Social Inequality – Analysis of the Impact of Social Origin on Educational Career Patterns and Their Labor Market Outcomes from a Comparative Perspective

Research question/goal: 

This project examines two research questions to deepen the understanding of social origin on delayed achievement of education. First, do young adults react with reenrollment into higher education on some labour market situations? Second, do returns to education on the labour market differ between different educational career patterns? The second question has important implications for the consequences of the first question in the context of intergenerational social inequality. These questions will be approached using secondary analysis of existing longitudinal micro-data. Since the moderation of the micro-processes through institutional conditions is of particular interest, the analyses will involve a comparison of both processes over three societies, Germany, Sweden and the United States. The focus will be on analysis for the German case. The comparison cases however can add additional insights on the processes in educational systems which are similar to recent developments of the German system.

Current stage: 

In order to examine the influence of educational systems on late educational decisions we analysed longitudinal microdata sets from Sweden, Germany and the United States. In 2012, our focus was on the returns to diversified postsecondary educational career patterns in the different country contexts. Data analyses were complete and results presented in international conferences. At the moment, we are documenting the project results and prepare them for publication.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
BMBF
Duration: 
2010 to 2013
Status: 
completed
Data Sources: 
longitudinal micro-data
Geographic Space: 
Germany, Sweden, United States

Publications

Journal Articles

Jacob, Marita, and Markus Klein (2013): Der Einfluss der Bildungsherkunft auf den Berufseinstieg und die ersten Erwerbsjahre von Universitätsabsolventen. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, 35, issue 1, p. 8-37. more
Schindler, Steffen, Felix Weiss and Tobias Hubert (2011): Explaining the class gap in training - the role of employment relations and job characteristics. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 30, issue 2, p. 213-232. more
Jacob, Marita, and Felix Weiss (2011): Class origin and young adults' re-enrollment. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 29, issue 4, p. 415-426. more
Klein, Markus, and Felix Weiss (2011): Is forcing them worth the effort? Benefits of mandatory internships for graduates from diverse family background at labour market entry. Studies in Higher Education, 36, issue 8, p. 969-987. more
Weiss, Felix, and Markus Klein (2011): Soziale Netzwerke und Jobfindung von Hochschulabsolventen - Die Bedeutung des Netzwerktyps für monetäre Arbeitsmarkterträge und Ausbildungsadäquatheit. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 40, issue 3, p. 228-245. more

Conference Presentations

Weiss, Felix, and Anja Grauenhorst (2012): More education - smaller returns? Education to work transitions with and without vocational eucation. [ECSR/EQUALSOC Conference: Economic change, Quality of life and Social cohesion, Stockholm, September 24th to September 26th, 2012] more
Weiss, Felix, and Marita Jacob (2012): You snooze, you lose? Returns to interrupted college education in the U.S.. [ISA RC28 Summer Meeting on “Labor Market and Educational Transitions in Uncertain Times”, Charlottesville, VA, August 13th to August 15th, 2012] more
Weiss, Felix, and Josipa Roksa (2012): Blurring Boundaries Between School and Work in the U.S. - New Dimensions of Educational Inequality?. [International Sociological Association RC28 on Social Stratification and Social Mobility Spring Meeting, Chinese University of Hong Kong, May 10th to May 14th, 2012] more
Weiss, Felix, and Marita Jacob (2011): Inequalities beyond access? Labour market conditions and social differences in students’ jobs. [American Sociological Association 106th Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, August 20th to August 23rd, 2011] more
Jacob, Marita (2011): Ungleichheiten nach der Immatrikulation. Arbeitsmarktbedingungen und die soziale Differenzierung studentischer Erwerbstätigkeit. [Soziologisches Kolloquium an der Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, May 25th, 2011] more
Weiss, Felix (2011): EMI in Germany: Two Cases of Qualitative Differentiation in Education. [ISA RC28 Summer Meeting, Iowa City, August 10th to August 13th, 2011] more
Weiss, Felix (2011): Ways to and through higher education – describing social differences in higher education patterns in Germany, Sweden and the US. [Education in turbulent times: 6th Annual Conference of the Albanian Institute of Sociology (AIS), Tirana, November 21st to November 22nd, 2011] more
Jacob, Marita, and Felix Weiss (2010): Inequalities beyond access? Labour market conditions and social differences in students' jobs. [Transition in Youth Network Conference, Dublin, September 09th to September 11th, 2010] more
Weiss, Felix (2010): Ungleichheit über den Zugang hinaus. Arbeitsmarktbedingungen und die soziale Differenzierung studentischer Erwerbstätigkeit. [Kolloquium Empirische Sozialforschung, Konstanz, November 17th, 2010] more