Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Field Resources: The Impact of Parental Resources and Socialisation Practices on Children's Fields of Study in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, more and ore peoplenow attend colleges and universities, thus making the relation between family background and field of study an important social strasification issue. We assume that choosing a scholastic field is indicative of a specific set of resources. Four types of resources are assigned to individuals according to their field of study ; i. e. cultural, economic, communicative and technical resources. The results of our analysis of a nationally representative Dutch sample (N = 1,588) suggest that field resources related to labour market success (economic and technical field resources) are reproduced directly, implying that children take their parents' social position as a frame of reference. Cultural and communicative field resources are more open to specific types of socialisation, which emphasizes the relevance of cultural aspects of the background family. No gender differences in the impact of socialisation on field resources were observed. Inter-cohort stability in the impact of family background means the openness of Dutch society has not increased with respect to educational field resources