The working unit Educational Decisions and Social Inequality deals with questions on the emergence, persistence and change of socially unequal educational opportunities over the life course and their effects on the socio-structural positioning of people in society.  

In modern societies, education is the central condition for social participation. It legitimizes the unequal distribution of important social goods and is the prerequisite for attaining social positions of high socioeconomic status and social prestige. Educational inequality in the form of competencies, grades, school form placement, certificates or participation in further education is the result of educational decisions made by individual actors in different social starting positions and contexts of action.     

One focus of the working units tasks is to contribute to the NEPS, the two NEPS subunits Social Inequality and Educational Decisions over the Life Course and Basic Sociodemographic Information. 

The research work of the working unit is primarily concerned with the analysis of the mechanisms for the development of educational inequality, the significance of resources and social relations for the development of educational inequality, and the effects of social trends on educational inequalities.