Parental qualifications as determinants of university entrance and choice of a field of study in Germany

Abstract

Against the background of Bourdieu’s reproduction theory, the choice of field of study was addressed above all as topic of social inequality in tertiary education. It was supposed that ‘title inflation’ led to a relocation of the distinctive advantage of the upper classes from the vertical to the horizontal dimension of inequality in the choice of field of study. Previous studies only showed a weak effect of social background on the choice of medical and legal studies. However, what had not before been analysed was the continuation of family traditions in academic and non-academic fields, which operate as mediator between social origin and the choice of field of study. The present study analyses this connection with a newly developed instrument from the German Student Survey, which is conducted by the Research Group on Higher Education at the University of Konstanz. As a result, it can be shown that the father’s education has only a weak effect on the student’s choice of field of study. However, the probability of a similar choice of field of study increases between 10% and 20% if the familial training traditions are considered.