Occupational aspirations at the end of compulsory schooling: The interplay of parents’ educational background, work values and self-concepts in the reproduction of inequality: Berufsaspirationen am Ende der Mittelschule – Das Zusammenspiel von Bildungshintergrund, Arbeitswerten und Selbstkonzepten in der Reproduktion von Ungleichheit

Franz Astleithner, Susanne Vogl, Raphaela Kogler

    Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelPeer Reviewed

    Abstract

    Decisions about further schooling or vocational training are imminent at the end of lower secondary education, and they determine educational and occupational trajectories. Understanding decision processes during this transition helps to elucidate the intergenerational reproduction of inequality. The aim of this study is to untangle influences on students’ occupational aspirations and how their parents’ educational level shapes these aspirations. We analysed data from an online survey of 3078 students at approximately 15 years of age in the general track of lower secondary school (‘Neue Mittelschule’) in Vienna (Austria). Based on regression analyses and path models, we show that educational background is related to occupational aspirations. Work values, attitudes towards school and social capital shape occupational aspirations but cannot be (fully) explained by educational background. Furthermore, we find no evidence that locus of control affects the level of occupational aspirations.

    OriginalspracheEnglisch
    Seiten (von - bis)333-358
    Seitenumfang26
    FachzeitschriftÖsterreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie (ÖZS)
    Jahrgang48
    Ausgabenummer3
    DOIs
    PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 23 Aug. 2023

    ÖFOS 2012

    • 504002 Arbeitssoziologie

    Schlagwörter

    • Habitus
    • Intergenerational inequality
    • Locus of control
    • Occupational aspirations
    • School-to-work transition
    • Social mobility

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