Educational Upward Mobility in a Stratified Educational System: The Role of Social Capital

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 17. The Role of Teachers

Abstract

Prior research has shown that intergenerational educational inheritance is particularly strong in highly stratified education systems, such as in Switzerland. Consequently, only a minority of adolescents experience intergenerational educational (upward) mobility. This paper investigates the role of structural and functional social capital in the family and at school for intergenerational upward mobility at the transition to upper-secondary education In Switzerland. The allocation to high-status upper-secondary tracks constitutes the main avenue for educational upward mobility in the stratified Swiss educational system. Based on a representative longitudinal study for the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland, the results indicate that social capital accrued in the family and at school play a direct as well as a mediating role for educational upward mobility.

Authors

• Marlis C. Buchmann, University of Zurich

• Sybille Bayard, University of Zurich

• Stephanie Bundel, University of Zurich

• Irene Kriesi, Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training