METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH The study is based on two central methodological ele­ments. First, qualitative data collection was carried out be­tween February and April 2023 in the form of focus groups. This exploratory study design served the purpose of defining the scope of the term»working class« empiri­cally. The focus groups discussed what the participants as­sociate with the term»worker«, what kind of relationship they themselves have with the working class and how they categorise their own work in relation to society. Based on diagrams of different forms of society the groups discussed how social strata in Germany are distributed. This themat­ic approach enabled the participants to describe their own subjectively perceived position in society and to outline an extended picture of society in which ideal-typical occupa­tional groups are placed in relation to each other. A total of eight group discussions were held online with 45 partici­pants(five or six per group). Participants were recruited from the German-speaking population over 18 years of age. Group recruitment and composition was carried out using a screener to determine whether the participants felt they belonged to the working class(subjective perception). On top of that, group members were allocated in accord­ance with quotas for age, sex, education, region and migra­tion background. Initially, four focus groups were conduct­ed, comprising workers in either manufacturing or servic­es, both with and without a subjective sense of belonging to the working class. In addition, a focus group was set up whose members do not belong to the typical working class occupations in accordance with Daniel Oesch’s occupa­tional classes model but who nevertheless consider them­selves to belong to the working class. Going deeper, focus groups were conducted with employees from industry/pro­duction and»social activities«, as well as precarious and atypical employees from various occupational classes. Fo­cus group discussions lasted around two hours and record­ings of the event were transcribed and evaluated. In addition to informing our theoretical approach, the re­sults of the qualitative survey formed the basis of the quan­titative survey. This survey was conducted among the Ger­man-speaking population(over 18 years of age) from 5 June to 23 July 2023. A total of 5,061 people were ques­tioned in a mixed mode design, under which a representa­tive random selection was made online(CAWI) and quota samples were drawn by telephone(CATI). The quantitative data were weighted in accordance with sociodemographic characteristics, including age, sex, education and region as control variables. In the course of gathering this socio-de­mographic information, sector and occupational title, as well as main activity were also analysed separately in line with the study’s research interest, based on Daniel Oesch’s occupational class model. The main part of the survey looked at the topical areas of respondents’ general life and work satisfaction, their identification with their work(in particular paid employment), evaluations of central work­ing conditions(such as regulated working time) and char­acteristics(such as flexible working time models or job se­curity). Questions were also asked about subjective assess­ment of social strata and class affiliation. Political attitudes were surveyed among other things based on degrees of ap­proval of political statements. The open-ended question on occupation was coded in accordance with ISCO and used to assign occupational classes based on Daniel Oesch’s work. The quantitative results of the report were compiled by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES). Further analyses based on the survey data were carried out by scholars with the rele­vant expertise and published separately. The qualitative and quantitative data collection and preparation of the data set were carried out by Kantar Public(now Verian). 6 WORKING CLASS IN THE MIDDLE?  NOVEMBER  2024  FES diskurs