Soziale Schichtung in der Industriellen Gesellschaft

English summary: This posthumously-published habilitation treatise contains M. Rainer Lepsius' theory of industrial society inequality which goes beyond 19th century's class-analysis or the theory of destratification. Its structural-cultural approach puts the problem of legitimation of inequality among legally equal citizens to the forefront, includes some lasting insights into this problem and provides an interesting view of the debate in German sociology during the Federal Republic's...
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English summary: This posthumously-published habilitation treatise contains M. Rainer Lepsius' theory of industrial society inequality which goes beyond 19th century's class-analysis or the theory of destratification. Its structural-cultural approach puts the problem of legitimation of inequality among legally equal citizens to the forefront, includes some lasting insights into this problem and provides an interesting view of the debate in German sociology during the Federal Republic's early years. German description: Die bisher unveroffentlichte Habilitationsschrift von M. Rainer Lepsius aus dem Jahre 1963 enthalt eine Theorie der Ungleichheit in Industriegesellschaften, die vom Veralten der Klassentheorie des 19. Jahrhunderts ausgeht, aber auch die These von der eingetretenen Entschichtung oder Nivellierung kritisiert ("nivellierte Mittelstandsgesellschaft"). Es handelt sich um eine Untersuchung, die nach wie vor richtungweisende Uberlegungen zur Ungleichheitsproblematik enthalt und zudem ein interessantes Dokument der soziologischen Diskussion in der fruhen Bundesrepublik darstellt.