How are East Germans and people with a migration background represented in the German elite? Researchers from Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, together with colleagues from Berlin and Leipzig, are presenting a new study.

The volume "Distant Elites - The Underrepresentation of East Germans and People with a Migration Background" was published by Springer VS at the end of March 2024.

The volume presents the detailed results of the research project 'Social integration without elites?', which ran from 2018 to 2021, in book form. The nine chapters examine from a social science perspective the extent to which and why many East Germans and people with a migrant background seem distant from the elites of the Federal Republic.

On the one hand, the focus is on the under-representation of the two population groups in the elites and on lower individual opportunities for advancement. To this end, the professional biographies of around 2,800 members of the elite were collected and analyzed. Secondly, the question of the connection between the elite underrepresentation of the two groups and their attitudes towards society and the political institutions of the Federal Republic is raised and answered on the basis of a population survey in a first approach. Finally, the volume formulates recommendations for action for the further socio-political handling of the diagnosed underrepresentation.

Researchers from the TRAWOS Institute at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences were involved in the research project funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and in the production of the volume, alongside researchers from Leipzig University (headed by Dr. Lars Vogel) and the German Centre for Migration and Integration Studies (DeZIM, Berlin, headed by Prof. Dr. Sabrina Zajak): Prof. Dr. Raj Kollmorgen as project leader of the sub-project at the HSZG and co-editor of the volume, Susanne Lerche (MA) as research assistant and author and Jan Schaller (MA) as research assistant and author.

The project and its results are currently being continued and deepened in a follow-up project ("Elitenmonitor") funded by the Federal Chancellery (Commissioner for Eastern Europe), in which TRAWOS researchers are also involved.

Book launches and presentations on the publication and the project results will take place in the region shortly. The dates will be published on the TRAWOS Institute website.