ABSTRACT
As was pointed out in Chapter 2, the society of the pre-unification Federal Republic, although by no means classless, was marked by a consensus that was remarkable by the standards of some other western European countries. That there were limits on social mobility-most leading positions in society remained in the hands of the same elite groups-was largely concealed by the general increase in prosperity. In the GDR, too, while there were clear differences between the privileged way of life enjoyed by top party functionaries and that of the masses they claimed to represent, the prevailing ideology meant that social differences based on wealth and, for example, educational privilege remained relatively insignificant. This chapter will consider whether, in post-unification Germany, the tradition of consensus prevails or whether social cleavages are beginning to threaten cohesion and stability.
