Abstract (eng)
Andreas Reckwitz describes in his social diagnosis “The End of Illusions” a transformation of the former leveled middle class into a three-class society, consisting of the precarious class, old middle class, and new middle class. With the change of society and through cultural processes of valuation and devaluation, a rupture occurs between the old and the new middle class. According to Reckwitz, this rupture is expressed, among other things, in differing values between the two middle classes. This paper examines whether the described differences in values between the old and the new middle class are also evident in the empirical data. Hereby, class membership is the independent variable. The dependent variables used to capture the values are value orientation (measured by the Inglehart Index), willingness to take risks, as well as extrinsic, intrinsic, and social work values. The used data basis is the ALLBUS 2021 with a selected sample of n=870. The operationalization of class position is based on the ESeG classification. Descriptive analyses, factor analyzes for data aggregation and inferential statistical methods (t-tests, test of proportions, chi-square test, regression analyses) are conducted to investigate the relationship between class membership and the dependent variables. The results show, that the old and the new middle class differ significantly from each other in terms of risk taking and the importance of prestige at work (extrinsic work value). Contrary to the assumed relationship, the old middle class turns out to be more willing to take risks than the new middle class. Regarding the extrinsic work value, the hypothesis can be supported that prestige at work is more important for the old middle class than for the new middle class. No significant results are available for the extent of the Inglehart Index, the intrinsic work value (importance of self-fulfillment at work) and the social work value (importance of social orientation at work).