Pia Nicoletta Blossfeld provides a long-term longitudinal analysis of the stepwise changes in
transitions over the educational careers in East and West Germany using data from the National
Educational Panel Study (NEPS). She examines how far reforms aimed to increase the permeability
in the German educational system have changed the movements of children adolescents and young
adults in Germany since the last four decades. Her book contributes to the literature of
educational sociology by studying the associations between various resources of family
background and respondent's educational histories until final educational attainment. A novelty
of her book is the analysis of the role of intercohort changes in social background composition
on final educational attainment.
