life circumstances of all parts of the population improve. This calls for a veritable paradigm change. Statistical juggling or not, in pursuit of the right policies to open up people’s life chances social democracy has also long overestimated the importance of mar­kets, within the framework of which the issue of distribution is downgraded and the close connection between equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes ignored. Under the aegis of economization and consolidation programs in the wake of the financial and economic crisis(social democratic) governments have limited room to maneuver. Equality of opportunity under the aegis of fairer dis­tribution, however, requires in particular intact welfare states and a decent level of public services, and both these things are in jeopardy. Liana Fix and Gero Maass; Liana Fix is Program Officer at the Körber-Foundation, Berlin; Gero Maass is head of the International Policy Analysis unit of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin Bibliography Dorling, Daniel(2010): Injustice. Why Social Inequality Persists . Bristol: Policy Press. Saunders, Peter, with Natalie Evans(2010): Beware False Prophets. Equality, the Good Society and»The Spirit Level .« London: Policy Exchange. Available at: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/Beware_False_ Prophets_Jul_10.pdf. Snowdon, Christopher(2010): The Spirit Level Delusion. Fact-checking the Left’s New Theory of Everything; Little Dice. Toynbee, Polly(2009):»Revenge for Past Failings Is a Luxury the Poor Can’t Afford,« in The Guardian (December 4). FRANZ WALTER: Vorwärts oder Abwärts? Zur Transformation der Sozialdemokratie Berlin 2010 Suhrkamp, 142 pp. I ndividual accounts of the problems of European social democracy and the var­ious parties and organizations which make it up are available in abundance. High time, therefore, for a synopsis, an analytical overview, a positioning of current processes within the framework of longer-term political and ideologi­cal contexts and lines of development. With»Vorwärts oder Abwärts?,« Franz 242 Rezensionen/Book Reviews ipg 4/2010