First-generation students in east and West Germany: Theoretical concepts and initial results

Abstract

This article argues that the chances of successful educational upward mobility are more clearly assessed when educational decisions are interpreted not as isolated individual or family decisions, but in relation to their societal and political context. In order to do this, the authors propose a combination of Bourdieu's conception of habitus with the political process approach. In an ongoing biographical investigation concerned with first-generation students in East and West Germany, the author presents initial results which show the benefit of this theoretical concept.