Thorsten Schneider

Thorsten Schneider is a Professor of Sociology with a focus on the Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Societies at the University of Leipzig, where he has been employed since 2011. He is affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy and the Institute of Sociology. Additionally, he serves as a Research Affiliate at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg since 2019. From 2019 to 2025, he held the position of Dean of Studies for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy at Leipzig University.

His educational background includes a Doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Zurich in 2005, with a dissertation on social origins and educational participation titled "Erfolgreich durchs deutsche Schulsystem." He earned his Diploma in Sociology with minors in Economics and History from the University of Bremen in 2000.

Professor Schneider's research focuses on social structure analysis, examining social, migration, and gender-specific disparities in educational acquisition and trajectories. His work investigates the consequences and usability of education, with particular attention to how socioeconomic status affects children's language skills and cognitive development. He employs advanced methodological approaches including panel data analysis and event history analysis to study educational inequalities across the life course. His comparative perspective extends to fertility patterns and generational relationships in historical and cross-national contexts.

Schneider's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on educational inequality, particularly how parental education, school tracking, and social composition affect achievement gaps. His work often employs cross-national comparisons, examining educational systems in countries including Germany, the United States, England, France, and others. The methodological rigor of his research is evident in his expertise in longitudinal data analysis, as reflected in his co-authored textbook "Event History Analysis with Stata."

Professor Schneider leads several significant research projects, including "NEPS Stage 2/3" (2021-2024), "Impact of primary school closures on educational inequalities" (2021-2022), and the "Development of Inequalities in Child Educational Achievement: A Six Country Study (DICE)" (2019-2022), all funded by various public sources including the DFG German Research Foundation. These projects focus on understanding educational trajectories and inequalities through longitudinal panel data.

His research team includes Research Assistant Corinna Maria Zollner and auxiliary staff members Christoph Mayer and Franziska Reuss. Professor Schneider maintains an active research agenda examining how societal structures shape educational opportunities and outcomes across different contexts and populations.