The role of the changing social background composition for changes in inequality of educational opportunity: An analysis of the process of educational expansion in Germany 1950-2010.

Using new longitudinal data from the Adult Cohort (SC6) of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) this paper examines how the highest educational attainment has changed in the process of educational expansion in Germany between 1950 and 2010. The study focuses on a fairly neglected question of the educational expansion process: Which role does the changing social background composition play in changes in inequalities of educational opportunity? It concludes that, despite a period of substantial educational reform, the overall origin-specific inequalities as well as the demand to earn the highest educational degree within the various social origin groups have remained surprisingly stable across birth cohorts. Instead, the general trend towards educational growth at higher education in Germany seems to be mainly driven by intercohort changes in social background composition.