Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2023

In a meritocratic society, individual talent, effort, and abilities should be the main determinants of educational and occupational success (R. Becker & Hadjar, 2009; Solga, 2005). However, in the case of Germany, decades of empirical research have shown that these ideals are often undermined and other factors, such as social origin of one’s own family (R. Becker & Lauterbach, 2008; Schindler & Lörz, 2012), ethnic background (Dollmann, 2010), or gender (Hadjar, 2011), can have a significant influence on educational success and the entire life course. This is not only tragic for the individual but also for society as a whole. If bright minds cannot achieve their full potential due to some arbitrary influences, this can obstruct economic, technological, and societal progress. Consequently, it is a highly relevant task to understand in more detail how meritocratic ideals fail and why, which is, of course, an immense challenge given the scope of potential causes. To be concrete, the present dissertation will take a life-course perspective and investigate in more detail how some forms of educational inequalities emerge early in life, especially in the German educational system. This perspective highlights that early events and decisions can have long-lasting consequences and affect the entire trajectory an individual is on. Additionally, it emphasizes some other features, such as observing longer periods of time (in contrast to singular events),involving multiple life domains (such as family and education), including individual actions but also institutional and structural factors, and taking relevant collective contexts, such as parents or peers, into account (Mayer, 2009). All these aspects will be taken up in this dissertation.