Cultural Capital and Social Inequality in the Life Course

In many surveys, such as PISA, the German educational system shows a strong social inequality, particularly in the transition to higher education (‘Gymnasium’) and to university. Above all, rational choice models and approaches from conflict theory are used as tools for the explanation of these findings. In this contribution, the capital theory of Pierre Bourdieu is tested on the basis of a follow-up survey, which refers to the ages between sixteen and thirty-five. As a result it can be shown that there is a substantial reproduction effect by the transmission of cultural capital in the family.