This paper analyses the different educational investments made by three generations of families included in a socially privileged group. It discusses how, from one generation to the other, passing through the education system was the basis of the social differentiation processes among individuals. The empirical material studied was obtained as part of a doctoral research, which identified the secondary school level and socio-professional trajectories of eighty-two women who had studied in three Catholic schools. It focuses on the structural long-duration changes, such as the expanding access to education, the increased investment in girls' schooling paths and the survival of the sexual connotation of school courses. By systematically comparing the passage through the education system and the enrollment in higher education, it shows how the social order was transferred into the school environment and how it defines the possible horizons for each person.
Effects of education; Class; Gender; Generation