Names often indicate belonging to a certain ethnic group. When immigrant parents choose a first name for their child that is common in their host society, they show a high degree of acculturation. In contrast, selecting a name common only in the parents' country of origin indicates ethnic maintenance. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel for Turkish, Southwest European, and former Yugoslav immigrants, the authors show that acculturation in terms of name giving depends on several factors: the cultural boundary between the country of origin and the host society, the parents' sociostructural integration in terms of education and citizenship, interethnic networks, and religious affiliation.

Summary: Due to globalization, skills such as foreign language proficiency and intercultural competence, here referred to as transnational human capital, are becoming increasingly important. A study-abroad program during schooling is one of the most efficient ways to acquire transnational human capital. Until now, class-specific access to transnational capital has remained largely unexplored. With recourse to the literature on the sociology of education and to the work of Pierre Bourdieu, we have developed hypotheses and tested them using German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data. The findings indicate that the likelihood of studying abroad is determined a) by the capital available to the parents, b) by the cultural capital and the commitment of the child, c) by the opportunity structure, and d) by family conflicts. Attendance of a Gymnasium' has a crucial filtering function. Overall, the probability of acquiring transnational human capital through study abroad differs significantly according to the economic capital of the child's parents.Keywords: Globalization; Transnational Human Capital; Social Inequality; Bourdieu; KHB Decomposition; GSOEP.Zusammenfassung: Im Kontext von Globalisierungsprozessen werden Fertigkeiten wie Fremdsprachenkenntnisse und interkulturelle Kompetenzen, hier zusammenfassend als transnationales Humankapital bezeichnet, immer wichtiger. Ein Auslandsaufenthalt während der Schulzeit ist eine effektive Variante, solches Kapital zu erwerben. Der klassenspezifische Zugang zu transnationalem Kapital ist weitgehend unerforscht. Im Rückgriff auf die bildungssoziologische Literatur und die Arbeiten Pierre Bourdieus entwickeln wir hierzu Hypothesen und prüfen diese mit einer Sekundäranalyse der Daten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP). Die Befunde zeigen, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Auslandsaufenthaltes a) von der Kapitalausstattung des Elternhauses, b) vom kulturellen Kapital und dem Engagement des Kindes, c) der Gelegenheitsstruktur sowie d) von familiären Konflikten bestimmt wird. Dabei kommt dem Besuch des Gymnasiums eine entscheidende Filterfunktion zu. Insgesamt wird die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines schulischen Auslandsaufenthalts stark von der materiellen Ausstattung des Elternhauses bestimmt.

Turkey has made significant efforts to fulfil requested accession criteria through socio-economic and cultural convergence with EU Member States. However, Turkey's eventual membership in the EU depends on the support of current EU citizens. This article therefore analyses citizens' attitudes towards Turkish accession in the 27 EU Member States. The analysis shows that a clear majority of citizens reject the idea of Turkey joining the EU. Four factors work rather well to explain this rejection: the economic benefit of Turkish accession, cultural differences, political ideology and general attitudes towards the EU.

Pierre Bourdieu's work bas argued that there is a homology of social classes on tbe one hand and cultural consumption on the other. In contrast, theories of individualisation posit that social class plays only a minor role in shaping lifestyle in contemporary societies. In this paper we examine a) how much contemporary highbrow lifestyles in 27 European countries are structured by class membership, b) the extent to which highbrow consumption varies according to the level of modernisation of a society and c) whether the explanatory power of social class in relation to highbrow consumption decreases in more modernised European countries. The findings show that highbrow lifestyles are strongly influenced hy social class, and that highbrow consumption is more common in more modernised societies. Moreover, the findings confirm tbe hypothesis that the formative power of social class on lifestyle decreases in highly modernised societies, albeit without disappearing completely.