Positional Advantages of Higher Education Degrees and Occupational Upgrading in West Germany

Abstract

Abstract This study examines how the association between higher education and the socioeconomic status is affected by positional educational advantages in West Germany from 1976 to 2015. Positional educational advantages account for the declining exclusiveness of higher education degrees in the course of educational expansion, which is accompanied by occupational upgrading. The empirical results indicate that the decreasing positional educational advantages affect higher education degrees differently than lower educational levels. Graduates from higher education enhance their advantage over degree holders below higher education with regard to socioeconomic status. Thereby, university degrees in particular gain in importance.