<p>This article analyses school cultures in primary schools with focus on differences regarding “spaces of opportunity” for social participation. For that purpose, social participation is conceptualized as opportunity for agency, recognition and participation of pupils. The analyses are based on qualitative data from seven Austrian primary schools, especially qualitative (group) interviews conducted with school administrators, teachers, and children. The data is condensed into four spaces of opportunity for social participation. These vary in the role of school rules and the prevailing understanding of rules, but also in how school is (or is not) seen as a place of individual agency for children. Structural conditions of the schools prove to be a central factor for these differences, in particular the social composition of the student body. The results point out that opportunities for participation can be seen as an important factor in the reproduction of (educational) inequalities, as they affect the role ascribed to pupils in school and, subsequently, how they experience their own position in relation to school and education.</p>