(Dørene lukkes præcist)

Bedømmelsesudvalg:

• Lektor Gitte Sommer Harrits (formand), Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Statskundskab
• Professor, Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
• Professor, Dr. Johannes Giesecke, Humboldt-University, Berlin

Hovedvejleder

• Professor Niels Egelund, Aarhus Universitet, Center for Strategisk Uddannelsesforskning, Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik (DPU)

Medvejleder

• Professor Mads Meier Jæger, Københavns Universitet, Sociologisk Institut

Forsvaret ledes af Lektor Poul Nissen, Aarhus Universitet, Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik (DPU).

Afhandlingen ligger til gennemsyn hos Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik (DPU), Tuborgvej 164, bygning D, lokale 329, sekretariatet.

Institut for Uddannelse og Pædagogik (DPU) er vært ved en efterfølgende reception.

Abstract:
The dissertation examines the role of students’ educational expectations in the generation of inequality of educational opportunity in post-industrial society. Taking its departure in the theory of rational action, it argues that students facing significant educational transitions form their educational expectations by taking into account the foreseeable, yet inherently uncertain, consequences of potential educational pathways. This process of expectation formation, it is argued, involves socially bounded evaluations of the relation between the self and educational prospects. These evaluations in turn lead higher class students to pursue more ambitious goals than equally talented lower class kids. In this way inequality of educational opportunity is mediated by the expectations students hold for their futures. The dissertation consequently argues that both researchers and policy-makers need to consider the expectation-based origin of educational inequalities, if educational reform is to promote social mobility in today’s society.