{"id":946,"date":"2025-09-09T10:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T08:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/?p=946"},"modified":"2026-07-29T20:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:48:35","slug":"does-your-familial-background-influence-your-decision-for-against-a-doctorate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/2025\/09\/09\/does-your-familial-background-influence-your-decision-for-against-a-doctorate\/","title":{"rendered":"Does your Familial Background influence your Decision for\/against a Doctorate?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr. Steffen Jaksztat<\/a>, Sociologist at the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), investigates how social background shapes the path to a doctorate\u2014from the decision to pursue a dissertation to careers afterward. In the DRS podcast interview, he explains the importance of financial security, family expectations, and role models, the opportunities offered by formalized selection processes, and why mentors play a key role in the success of first-generation doctoral candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

highlights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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„What may also be relevant in this decision-making situation is that, in my opinion, pursuing a doctorate often requires greater adjustment on the part of children of non-academics and may also be accompanied by a certain degree of alienation from their social background.“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

„If you take a broader view of costs, or rather, let’s say, psychological costs, then it’s also a question of how do I deal with uncertainty? Will I manage to successfully complete my doctorate? Do I believe I can do it? Do I have any idea what I’ll do with my degree? Yes, these are decision-relevant questions that are likely to be answered differently depending on social background.“<\/p>\nDr. Steffen Jaksztat<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

SUMMARY<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

[Note: This interview was conducted in German. You can find a full English translation\u00a0here<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

English:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, sociologist Dr. Steffen Jaksztat talks about his research on the education paths of doctoral graduates in Germany. He manages the National Academics Panel Study, which tracks the careers of doctoral candidates and graduates. At the start, he gives some initial data, such as Germany having more than 200,000 doctoral students every year, most of whom focus on medicine, health sciences, mathematics, and engineering. The annual number of doctorates has grown from 21,000 in the 1990s to almost 27,000 today, with the number of female graduates having increased from 30% to 46%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jaksztat highlights the impact of a person\u2019s social background on pursuing a doctorate, noting that students from academic families are more likely to continue their higher education. He emphasizes the importance of support for first-generation doctoral students, as they face unique challenges. He also talks about how most doctoral graduates leave academia after earning their degrees, with only a small percentage remaining in academic roles five years after graduating, and about how job mismatches are pretty common, particularly in the humanities. Unequal access to doctoral studies is also influenced by the choice of subjects, as certain fields are more popular among those from academic families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He advocates for creating supportive environments and formalizing selection procedures to help students from non-academic backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In dieser Folge spricht der Soziologe Dr. Steffen Jaksztat \u00fcber seine Forschung zu den Bildungswegen von Promovierten in Deutschland. Er leitet die \u201eNational Academics Panel Study\u201c, eine Studie, die die Karriereverl\u00e4ufe von Promovierenden und Promovierten nachverfolgt. Zu Beginn nennt er einige Eckdaten: So gibt es in Deutschland j\u00e4hrlich mehr als 200.000 Promovierende, von denen sich die Mehrheit auf die Bereiche Medizin, Gesundheitswissenschaften, Mathematik und Ingenieurwissenschaften konzentriert. Die j\u00e4hrliche Zahl der Promotionen ist von 21.000 in den 1990er Jahren auf heute fast 27.000 gestiegen, wobei der Anteil der Frauen unter den Promovierten von 30 % auf 46 % zugenommen hat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Jaksztat beleuchtet den Einfluss der sozialen Herkunft auf die Entscheidung zur Promotion und weist darauf hin, dass Studierende aus akademischen Elternh\u00e4usern mit h\u00f6herer Wahrscheinlichkeit ihren Bildungsweg nach dem Hochschulabschluss fortsetzen. Er betont, wie wichtig Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Promovierende aus nicht-akademischen Elternh\u00e4usern ist, da diese vor besonderen Herausforderungen stehen. Zudem spricht er dar\u00fcber, dass die meisten Promovierten die Wissenschaft nach Abschluss ihrer Promotion verlassen \u2013 nur ein geringer Anteil ist f\u00fcnf Jahre sp\u00e4ter noch in akademischen Positionen t\u00e4tig \u2013 und dass Diskrepanzen zwischen Qualifikation und T\u00e4tigkeit insbesondere in den Geisteswissenschaften weit verbreitet sind. Auch die Wahl des Studienfachs beeinflusst den Zugang zur Promotion, da bestimmte Fachrichtungen bei Personen aus akademischen Elternh\u00e4usern beliebter sind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Er pl\u00e4diert daf\u00fcr, unterst\u00fctzende Rahmenbedingungen zu schaffen und Auswahlverfahren zu formalisieren, um Studierende aus nicht-akademischen Elternh\u00e4usern zu f\u00f6rdern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Steffen Jaksztat, Sociologist at the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), investigates how social background shapes the path to a doctorate\u2014from the decision to pursue a dissertation to careers afterward. In the DRS podcast interview, he explains the importance of financial security, family expectations, and role models, the opportunities offered … \u201eDoes your Familial Background influence your Decision for\/against a Doctorate?\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8307,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1681,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions\/1681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}