An important covariate in empirical educational research is the socioeconomic status (SES) of the families as it is known from several studies that there is a close correlation between this variable and the educational achievement of students (Willms, 2006). Most instruments for measuring SES in educational research are theoretically based on the distinction between economic, cultural and social capital (Bourdieu, 1986). While several well-proven instruments for economic and cultural capital do exist, it is quite difficult to measure social capital (Stubbe, 2014). However, most prevalent scales do not allow for empirically discriminating between economic and cultural capital. The level of education of a student’s mother and father, for example, surveys the institutionalized cultural capital of the parents. Additionally, this construct provides information about the economic capital, as well-educated persons tend to have higher incomes. The same applies for most questions about possessions in the households (e.g., books or musical instruments) and cultural activities (e.g., visiting a museum or theatre). While sufficient financial resources are a necessary condition for owning such things or participating in said activities, it can be assumed that families with low cultural capital would not be interested in owning/doing them.

Therefore it is difficult in empirical studies to distinguish between economic and cultural capital statistically. Nonetheless it might be interesting to compare families with high economic but low cultural capital, and vice versa, in order to analyze the importance of the different constellations of these types of capital for the educational achievement of the children.

Against this background, this paper presents an enhanced scale which does not only assess whether certain possessions/activities exist in the family or not but which, additionally, surveys if monetary reasons cause the absence of certain things.

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