4 HOW IS SOCIETY AS SUCH PERCEIVED? QUICK FACTS „ The social status(promise of prosperity and societal recognition) that attaches to the middle stratum of so­ciety is enormously attractive. Both working class and middle class occupational groups regard themselves as in the middle of society. „ In the perceptions of production workers and service workers German society is like a pyramid with a broad lower stratum at the base, a shrinking middle stratum and a small upper stratum at the top. They see them­selves primarily as belonging to the lower middle stra­tum. „ Basically there’s a strong sympathy with social strata both above and below. But this can switch to rejection if expectations of fairness are thwarted. Subjective categorisation into a particular social stratum allows conclusions to be drawn about the social status of different groups of people and their self-positioning in the social system. The majority of employees and former em­ployees in our survey see themselves as in the middle of society: 53 per cent assign themselves to the middle stra­tum, a good third(36 per cent) describe themselves as up­per middle or upper class, while only 11 per cent state that they belong to the lower middle or lower stratum. Based on our data this results in a kind of onion-shaped society, with a broad middle stratum, fairly large upper strata, and very small lower strata. A similar picture emerges if one compares these data with the micro census of 2018(Desta­tis 2021), notwithstanding the slightly different questions: the great majority see themselves as middle class. The re­sult is the opposite when it comes to distribution in the upper and lower strata: in the micro census the lower stra­ta are bigger and the upper strata smaller. The reason for this, in addition to the slightly different research question, is the different sample size and composition. 1 1  While the microcensus covered 1 per cent of the population, 5,061 people were interviewed in this survey. In addition, there is the shortcoming that people from higher income groups tend to be overrepresented in opinion surveys because they’re the ones who tend to participate in them. 15. Subjective affiliation to a social stratum Subjective affiliation to a social stratum Figure 15 There are various strata in our society. Some position themselves at the top of society, others at the bottom. Where do you position yourself on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 indicates»bottom«, 4»middle« and 7»top«? (%) Top 2 Rather at the top 6 Upper middle 28 Middle 53 Lower middle 8 Rather at the bottom 2 Bottom 1 Values deviating from 100%: Don’t know, No answer, Rounding. Basis: German-speaking population aged 18 and over, employed and formerly employed. Source: FES Mapping the Working Class, authors’ presentation. 28 WORKING CLASS IN THE MIDDLE?  NOVEMBER  2024  FES diskurs