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Ultees belangrijkste betekenis voor de sociologie – kort gezegd hoe hij deze discipline heeft ontward – ligt in de uitleg ervan via centrale probleemstellingen, de zogenoemde hoofdvragen van de sociologie. Aan Ultees bijdrage ligt een werkwijze ten grondslag die consequent
is ontleend aan een popperiaanse wetenschapstheorie en methodologie, die hij met bewonderenswaardige vasthoudendheid in praktijk heeft gebracht. Daarnaast is hij in zijn gehele loopbaan een inspirerende en vruchtbare initiator geweest van onderzoeksgroepen en onderzoeksprojecten, waarin met
name de consequente verbinding van theorie en onderzoek op opmerkelijke hoogte staat.

This paper presents an analysis of patterns of access to education in six Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia) between 1940 and 1985. As in other industrial countries, average educational attainment (measured by duration, i.e. years in school) has increased greatly since 1940. But the expansion was most rapid until 1970. In all six countries, women increased their educational attainment more than men. By 1975, the difference between men and women in regard to years of schooling had virtually disappeared in all countries studied. Parents' educational attainment (measured as average years of schooling of father and mother) proves to be a main determinant of their children's attainment. However, the effect of parents' education decreased by about half from 1940 to 1985. Cultural resources (measured by parents' cultural behavior while the respondent was growing up) turns out to be a strong predictor of educational attainment, and equally so for men and women. It accounts for about one-third of the educational reproduction effect. However, the effect of cultural background declined considerably under communism. Finally, parents' political resources (measured as parents membership of the Communist Party) is shown to have a weak but consistent effect on educational attainment in the six countries. Although this effect was relatively strong in the early communist period, it was negligible for the younger cohorts.

The study compares the social mobility and status attainment of first-and second-generation Turks in nine Western European countries with those of Western European natives and with those of Turks in Turkey. It shows that the children of low-class migrants are more likely to acquire a higher education than their counterparts in Turkey, making them more educationally mobile. Moreover, they successfully convert this education in the Western European labor market, and are upwardly mobile relative to the first generation. When comparing labor market outcomes of second generations relative to Turks in Turkey, however, the results show that the same level of education leads to a higher occupation in Turkey. The implications of these findings are discussed.