Social scientists and media commentators have expressed concern that Western countries are becoming two-thirds societies in which two-thirds enjoy the benefits of affluence, while one-third are locked into poverty or near-poverty. This paper, based on economic panel data, tests the two-thirds...

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (N=6950), this paper analyses equivalent income mobility in West Germany, 1984-93. Four hypotheses, derived from recent North American research and from sociological theory (stratification theory) are tested. They are: 1. that in West Germany, as...

Der Übergang zur Marktwirtschaft erfolgte in Ostdeutschland im Unterschied zu anderen osteuropäischen Staaten unter dem Primat der sozialpolitischen Angleichung der Lebensbedingungen an das höhere Wohlstandsniveau der westlichen Bundesländer. Bezüglich der Wohlstandsentwicklung wie auch der...