Thirty years after reunification and twenty years after the reform of German citizenship law, the public and academics are now discussing the extent to which East Germans and people with a migrant background (MMig) are represented in elite and management positions.

The finding that both groups are significantly less represented in leadership positions in Germany than would correspond to their respective share of the population has led to this discussion. East Germans and people with a migration background differ in many respects - be it in terms of their internal diversity, the degree of their social integration or their self-identification as a group. However, both groups are similar in that they are underrepresented in the elites. The comparison serves to analyze both the group-specific and the - despite all differences - similar mechanisms that exclude certain large social groups from central decision-making positions and thus make a decisive contribution to social inequality.

This research note examines whether this impression of personal underrepresentation is true and how this affects support for the political system and the population's assessment of social integration.

The study is based on the results of the research project "Social integration without elites?", which was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and carried out in cooperation with the DeZIM Institute, Leipzig University and the TRAWOS Institute at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.

At an event on 26.10.20, the results of the research project, a cooperative venture between the German Center for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), the TRAWOS Institute at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and Leipzig University, were presented.