Abstraction In the sociological literature for socialmobility, I assume that inequality that is lasting and passing down togenerations, intergenerational relations as a mechanism to explain lastinginequality is significant in analyzing how inequalities in social realm can bepossible, how social stratification among social groups in terms of their socialclass can pass down to generations and make them have been alive for years. Besidesthe others dynamics behind social inequality like contributions of institutionslike laws, economy, policy, education and so forth, intergenerational mobilityhas crucially influence on lasting inequality. In my paper, I argue that accessingeducation is not equal for all social groups and secondly education itself makesthis inequality maintain and intergenerational transmission of socioeconomicstanding which means social position of a family pass down to their children isone of the main cause of continued inequality for education, so I will try toexamine high level education access from different social groups in terms ofclass and analyze Germany by looking at the children of different social groupsin accessing education and German education system, I will connectintergenerational mobility effects on inequality among families from differentclass positions. To make my argument strong, I will comprise my data fromsociological literature and use theories from old sociologists to base upon themto my argumentation. Introduction Many scholars are interested in effects offamilies on their children and they have done so much researches about familyinfluence on behavior, status and social positions of individuals who are roseup by their parents.
However, this kind of perspective on generationreproduction neglects elder generation effects and other mechanisms had an impacton family reproduction and children coming from this families for microperspective on individuals. Besides just focusing on nuclear families, individuals,parent-child relationships on reproduction of generations and effects of micro-institutionson children, their social position and status on society, multigenerationalresearches suggest that so many generations are associated with each other, sowe need to go beyond to study only families but also older generation and nextgeneration to correlate their relations on individuals. Therefore, it may beinadequate to focus on one generation to see the next generation’s socialmobility, indeed intergenerational mobility of generations and their socialpositions require to study grandparent effects and transmission fromgrandparent to parent and parent to children. This approach on social mobilityestablishes bridges for grandparent and grandchildren in terms of transmissionof grandparent’s position to grandchildren (Mare, 2011).
According to threegenerational social mobility researches, grandchildren’s social positions aredirectly affected by grandparents’ social positions besides parental effects ontheir offspring. Indeed, social mobility patterns for two generations such asparent-child pair can have same patterns for three generational social class mobilityand grandparent’s social class can be transmitted to next two generation, totheir grandchildren and for Hertel and Groh-Samberg (2013), grandparent’sresources and their social class position can be impact on their grandchildrenas mechanisms for three generational social mobility. Firstly, grandparent’sresources which can have social, cultural and economic dimensions, may have animpact on grandchildren’s social class and educational achievement,independently from mediation of parents.
For instance, inheritance fromgrandparents can be directly transferred to grandchildren and it could beeconomic capital for high level education like getting degree from private collegesand by this way economic capital of grandparents can be both resource foreconomic and cultural capital to grandchildren. Moreover, cultural capital assecond resource of grandparents can have an influence on grandchildren’s futuredecisions, skills, knowledge and academic positions. That is why grandparentaleffect on children indicates that three generational social mobility can bepossible and grandparents also have an impact on transmission of resources tothe children apart from nuclear family (Hertel and Groh-Samberg 2013). Secondly,class position of grandparents can be reference frame to understandintergenerational social mobility.
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From multigenerational class mobilityapproach, grandparental effect on class position can be significant andreference frame for both parent and grandchildren. Class that determines socialpositions in public place might be transferred to generations from oldergenerations. Social and cultural reproduction theory of Bourdieu asserts that societiesshould be studied as systems of cultural and economic productions since theycan exist by producing cultural and economic capitals and the next generationscan be able to survive with this produced symbolic, social, economic andcultural capitals (Nash, 1990).
Bourdieu uses the term habitus to analyze inequality and cultural power upon lower classesand he says that habitus as a propertyof social groups or institutions can help to shape this group’s present and thefuture practices or moves which means that is way or tendency of thinking andacting. Our habitus makes us to thinkand move and habitus can beunderstood as a tool to explain implicit rules dictating our behaviors,decisions, practices that are structured by socially. Social classes as socialfact structures habitus, from thisperspective, for instance, lower class adults might tend to get working class jobs whereas middle-upperclass kids tend to choose private and/or high level universities (Maton, 2008).Apart from habitus, he explainsdifferent forms of capitals helped to understand social stratification andinequality between different social classes such as economic and culturalcapital more importantly. Forms of capitals differ in different social classes,economic capital can obviously differ that splits the classes because of unequalincome distribution, but cultural capital like being familiar with particular,not all, kind of literature as reader, hanging out certain places, takingcoffee with a Dostoyevsky book and so on shows your cultural capital and heclaims that cultural capital can vary from social class to another one. Forfuture decisions, academic life, business environment and all culturalpractices that are shaped by joint of habitusand cultural capital will put individuals/groups/institutions in a certain positionand social structure of society can be established with reproduction ofdifference.
Bourdieu’s perspective of cultural theory of power and socialreproduction are obviously associated with intergenerational social mobility ofinequality since this approach is able to explain cultural and economictransmission as a significant process for intergenerational family reproduction(Nash, 1990). I assume that inequality of income characterizing social classesin terms of economic dimension and educational attainment to high level universitiesor colleges are associated with each other and intergenerational transmissionof sources from older generations to next generation makes this inequalityalive. Economic and cultural resources of the families including grandparentaleffects could be passed down to grandchildren and educational attainment candiffer across different social classes. First of all, accessing highereducation can differ in diversified class positions transmitted grandchildrenfrom grandparent in multigenerational way. Economic-oriented social classesbased on income from grandparents to parents and parents to children have animportant reason why accessing higher education is not equal for every singleindividual. According to Great Gatsby Curve using variety of tools to measureintergenerational mobility and income inequality from cross-nationallycomparable data, financial resources play significant role in accessingeducation and there is strong relation between income inequality andintergenerational mobility.
That is to say, inequality from parents can existand pass down to next generation according to some scholars as well as theyshows that parental education have impact on their offspring’s future earnings( Jerrim and Macmillan, 2014). Further, individuals get income from their assetslike capitals, skills and networks from family. Forms of capital that Imentioned before as a remarkable dynamic passing down to generations andreproduced are fact for earning or getting a job in a certain position likeeducation of parents as well as grandparents, their social capital referred to strongnetworks or affiliation between some individuals, institutions and groups assymbolic capital affect children’s future position in academy, businessenvironment (Perez-Arce, Amaral, Huang and Price).
For instance, admission toone of the Ivy League Universities havemultigenerational effects since a student from a family whose parents did notget degree from one of these universities but his/her grandfather attended one of them before, hashigh level of getting admission to be a part of these Ivy League colleges(Mare, 2011). In order to cover all approaches related withintergenerational mobility, resource transmission from generations to followinggenerations, inequality and finally education attainment of the children, Iassert that accessing the high level education is not equal for children fromdifferent socioeconomic backgrounds. This is because, transmitted resourcesthat can be income transmission or wealth such as inheritance from grandparentsor parents to children, cultural capital making children have certain kind ofskills, knowledge regarding their cultural capital level and class surely andsocial capital included networks, social ties between groups, individuals andinstitutions making children accessing education more easily because of gettingto know by social connections, matter parents and grandparents, indeed those children born from relatively wealthieror poorer families do not have same opportunity to achieve same positions withdifferent children from different social classes. This linkages ensure tocorrelate transmission of resources containing income and even skills andinequality of opportunity with intergenerational class mobility (Perez-Arce,Amaral, Huang and Price, 2016). Children’s occupational skills, educationallevel, decisions about academic life, status and even neighborhood could betransmitted from family, parents or in three generational approach includinggrandparents, all are might have been determined already independently fromchildren because of effects of structural effects of families’ socioeconomicposition in society since tendencies for actions for further life arestructured from structures like family and so, inequality of opportunity, inaccessing high level education, can pass down to next generations and intergenerationalclass mobility can be a mechanism for lasting inequality. Therefore, parents or/andgrandparents matter for children’s future life. Data and Method I compromise my data from literature to see therelation between intergenerational mobility and inequality in accessingeducation. In order to provide this connection, I had covered 10 differentarticles related with intergenerational social mobility, three generational socialclass mobility, transmission of income, inequality of opportunity, incomeinequality and education.
Moreover, I have tried to make my argument strongerby basing upon a theory from Bourdieu which is social and cultural reproduction.This theory is extremely significant to relate my argumentation withintergenerational class mobility and inequality for education. Fromsociological literature for intergenerational relations in life course, I willexamine some related examples from cross-national data including incometransmission, micro-class mobility, inequality of opportunity for both two andthree generational perspective in order to analyze parental and grandparentaleffects. Specifically, I will try to explain and analyze Germany for income/wealth/capitaltransmission to next generation and differential opportunity for education andwhether or in what extend accessing education can differ for children fromdifferent social classes in Germany. Apart from data, I am doing secondary researchanalysis to create my research paper which means that I will use articles writtenbefore my paper. By this methodology, I planning to generate my research paperwith significant and related thoughts from sociological literature aboutintergenerational social mobility and inequality in accessing education. Germany case on intergenerationaltransmission of education Some studies of multigenerational relationsand mobility on educational attainment in cross-national analysis indicate thatin some extend grandparents can play crucial role in transmission of resourcesto children even though majority of studies claim that there are no netgrandparental effects on children for educational attainment or occupational decisionsand class mobility rather than transmission from parents.
However, for Germanycase, besides Hertel and Groh-Samberg’s research on three generational socialmobility (2014), Andrea Ziefle shows empirical evidence for Germany ongrandparental effects for the further generations. She argues that grandparentsas members of extended family’ resources in indirectly way and caregiving, disciplinefor children’s homework and other kinds of social support that could be done byparents can follow the same patterns for grandparents who provide direct andindirect cultural, economic, social resources for their grandchildren exceptfor just nuclear family. In the some extend that nuclear family or parents’lack of sources for educational attainment or occupational aspirations,grandparents can have a role in take on transmission of education advantage andresources make this advantage possible (Ziefle, 2016). According to her study,if current generation respondents means children from downwardly mobile parentsare succeeded in school rather than others from same level of parentaleducation, grandparents can have an impact on transmitted cultural resourcesthrough parent and refers that children can get benefit or advantage fromfamily that has generated relatively rich academic environment. This studyshows downward educational mobility in both East and West Germany (Ziefle,2016).
Apart from empirical evidence, some scholarsindicates that education system in Germany had changed over time bygovernmental regulations in terms of accessing high level education since beforereforms of education system, after Basic School or Hauptschule, students can be able to register Middle or AdvancedSchool, Mittelschle. In order tostrengthen the equality of well-educated students, this system had been changedwith reforms and system become more public for every student, especially forrelatively poor students to provide relatively and partly equal chances to beable to achieve high level education. Even though some regulations are done formore equal education, Heineck and Riphahn (2007), claims that parentaleducation is still significant because outcomes in attainment to high leveleducation or Advanced School indicates that students from a family who gotdegree from an Advanced School are following the same patterns in educationwhereas students coming from a family got degree from Basic School are gettingdegree from the Basic School. About 50 percentage of positive correlationbetween parents and children educational transmission is so high foreducational mobility and interventions for equality of opportunity on educationremain behind the intergenerational mobility (Heineck and Riphahn, 2007). Furthermore,one of the empirical researches says that stratified education system inGermany could have an impact on children’s education but family of originaffecting children’s cognitive ability and educational attainment more are morecorrelated with educational inequality.
They, the scholars, show more eclecticpoint of view from both sociological literature and psychological literatureasserting that socioeconomic resources passed down to children are underlyingmediator of parental abilities and even their cognitive abilities which areaffected by social origin at are transmitting to their offspring. Researchers defendthat even though reforms are done for more equal education access, overallsystem of education is strongly hierarchical and this strong stratification basedon social background offers to investigate parental background in that childrenwho is from a particular social origin is going to one of this schoolsstratified in hierarchical system and how their ability and tendency embodytogether by intergenerational transmission of parental cognitive abilitygenerated from resources. Briefly, scholars try to reveal that parentaleducation, occupation, social origin determining resources work viatransmission of ability and children access a school in stratified system bythis transmitted abilities, indeed children from different social backgroundtend to go different type of schools in Germany’s specific hierarchicaleducation system (Schulz, Schunck, Deiwald, Johnson, 2017). Social classes are unequally represented ineducational realm, especially in universities. Bourdieu says that educationalinequality is disposed of from distinction among social classes and thesediversified social strata appears unequally represented for higher education. Hisstudy on educational opportunity and social origin shows that father’soccupation have strongly impact on this offspring’s university entrance. Hethinks that chances to achieve higher education is an elimination process sinceschool systems are generated in unequal severity based on children’s socialorigin which will passed down from father’s occupational position in thecontext of France in 1961-62 according to his study. More advantaged classescould access higher education and more precious branches, indeed in the eyes ofpublic, such as Medicine, Pharmacy and Law, whereas he students from moredisadvantaged groups could enroll for Art schools which is seen as second classbranch in the context of the society.
Students could relegated from the leastprivileged classes and social categorization may last through education(Bourdieu, 1964). Briefly, social origin transmitted from family is factor toaccess higher education and education system itself maintains thesecategorization and inequality among students regarding their socialbackgrounds. When we look back at the German education system and to applyBourdieu’s study to Germany, stratified school system for even to accessuniversities could differ for students from various social classes.
There are afew kind of higher education such as Hochschuleand Universitaet. It is not tosay, all students going to university rather than hochschule are from middle-upper classes but they have someparental effects in terms of economic, cultural and social resources in achieving highereducation and these sources structuring habitus make students tend to goregular university which is more prestigious based on research orientation and institutionof higher education based on more to subject not to theory. That is why Germanycan be suitable example in analyzing intergenerational social class mobility,its effect on education and education’s itself to see the correlation between inequalityto achieve high level education.
Conclusion In myresearch paper, I argue that intergenerational social class mobility and transmissionof resources in economic, cultural, social dimensions could be mechanismsbehind determining of educational future for children. I asserted thatinequality in accessing high level education and prestigious academic positionsafter a successful school life can vary social class to another one. This isbecause, resources regarding social classes from working class to middle upperclass have some particular qualities. That is to say, someone from a particularclass thinks, moves and acts according to his or her position. Each positons structurethe habitus and our habitus might determine our tendencies, abilities, skillsand even our taste which these all are effecting educational decisions andpositions like that accessing the university might be possible, natural orimpossible for individuals and their way of thinking structured by habitus.Apart from this, social classes are generated by capitals such as economic aswell as cultural and social. Individuals embodied by structures of socialclasses transfer this capitals to next generations and reproduce this capitals,positions and individuals from next generation.
By this way, reproduction canbe possible with parental as well as grandparental effects in multigenerationalpoint of view. As social origin of parents and grandparents determine theirchildren/grandchildren positions in future life for their academic life,occupational aspiration and social status, children from different socialorigins are not in the same level in accessing education and opportunity. Thatis why, intergenerational transmission of resources, three generational socialclass mobility and reproduction of socio-economic, socio-cultural capital haveextremely impact on children’s educational level. All in all, intergenerational relations includingchildren, parent, grandparent in terms of interactions, they all are associatedwith each other and I thought that inequality of opportunity, unequal chancesin reaching education are also related to intergenerational relations and formy research parents and even grandparents matter for their children.
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