Forschung am Arbeitsbereich Bildungsoziologie / Research in Sociology of Education

Research within the research group Sociology of Education focuses on three distinct areas, all of which share a common perspective rooted in life course research:

• Educational research (with a focus on vocational education and training and higher education),
• Labour market research, and
• research into social inequality.

Our central aim is to understand the role played by national institutions, local (educational) organisations and ascriptive characteristics (including gender, background and age) of groups of people interested in education in shaping unequal educational and career trajectories. In examining this issue, we are interested in both the institutional conditions in Germany and the situation in a European context. For example, we investigate why young people from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds continue to face barriers to accessing higher education; why women, despite being better educated than men, still have poorer labour market prospects than men; and how work organisations (companies) influence individual transitions from education to employment, using discrimination as a resource to solve organisational problems where necessary. Particular attention is paid to the overlap between vocational and higher education, as well as to individual educational pathways that combine vocational training with higher education. From a theoretical perspective, the research group also supports research projects based on the sociology of conventions within the aforementioned research fields.