Bastian Betthäuser’s research focuses on social inequality, how it accumulates over the life-course and how it is transmitted across generations. His work addresses the following overarching questions: What are the social processes that account for the strong and persistent effect of peoples’ social background on their educational attainment, labour market position, and life chances? Can policies and social interventions limit the extent to which individuals’ life chances depend on their social background? If so, how?

Bastian’s work has been published in leading journals in sociology and public policy, including the European Sociological Review, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Advances in Life Course Research, Acta Sociologica, the British Journal of Sociology and the European Journal of Social Security. His research has been funded by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Nuffield Foundation, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, the Oxford/Berlin Research Collaboration, and the John Fell Fund.

Bastian currently teaches the course on 'Education Policy' for the MSc in Comparative Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI). He has previously taught courses on 'Social Policy in the 21st Century' for the MPP programme in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government (BSG), 'Quantitative Research Methods' at DSPI, and he has developed an online course on 'Social Policy and Welfare States in the Twenty-first Century' for the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE).