Education and inequality: Reproduction of inequality in higher education

This study is going to analyze economic, cultural and social inequalities' effects on the educational attainment of students' who are living in Turkey as university students. In this context, this study aims to prove that higher education reproduces inequalities in Turkey by taking economic, social and cultural factors into account. In this study, qualitative research methods were used and semi-structured interviews were made with students from Middle East Technical University and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University's engineering and social sciences departments. It is determined how economic, social and cultural characteristics differ in these two universities and this differentiation reproduces inequalities in higher education. In the light of this situation, it has been seen that students from METU are coming from middle-upper class families with the high profile of educational background and especially their social-cultural dispositions affect them to be successful in the educational system. In contrast, students from AYBU are coming from low-class families with the low profile of education which excludes them from social and cultural dispositions and affects their success in the educational system negatively. All things considered METU, which is represented by economically, culturally and socially advantageous individuals, reproduces acquired cultural dispositions. Moreover, while extending their social relations and accessing culture are possible for socio-economically disadvantageous students of METU, AYBU is a university where social relations are limited and cultural access is reduced for individuals from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. While students who are studying in METU are hopeful about access to professional status that bring long term profit, students from AYBU have a negative outlook about reaching job opportunities that are related to their departments. Thus, it is seen that the changing economic and cultural factors vary greatly in the two universities. Key Words: Reproduction, İnequality in Higher Education, Habitus