SOCIAL SECURITY, SOCIAL INEQUALITY 197
aged biographies and precarious living situations, was transformed into
two increasingly affl uent postwar German societies capable of a high de-
gree of social integration (albeit in diff erent ways and on diff erent levels,
but nonetheless to a surprisingly great extent in both cases). Both societ-
ies characteristically wove work, welfare, and patterns of social inequality
tightly together. Consequently, work was much more than just a guiding
principle of social order on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Standard, con-
tract-based employment (Normalarbeitsverhältnisse), which structured
income as well as gender roles, biographies, and recreational activities,
shaped the realities of everyday life in both Germanys.^14 For a long time,
West Germany adhered to the strong male breadwinner model, while fe-
male employment played a more decisive role alongside male employ-
ment much earlier on in the East. In both societies, though, work was
the most important anchor for social security. Especially in the Federal
Republic, however, social safeguards were heavily infl uenced by the mar-
kets. A German-German history of social inequality can thus hardly be
written without taking the employment-related stratifi cation of society
into account. Yet, merely relying on class or social status primarily de-
fi ned by position within the labor force cannot adequately account for the
complex structures of social inequality.
Four fundamental processes shaped West Germany’s work-oriented
society around 1970:
- Industrial society developed new contours. Employment in the so-
called secondary sector of the production industry maxed out at about
49 percent in 1970 before it was overtaken by the service sector in the
mid-1970s. However, this did little to change the industrial character of
the West German economy. The percentage of civil servants and employ-
ees enjoying a privileged social security status among the total working
population rose from about 20 percent to 36 percent. The percentage of
self-employed individuals, on the other hand, declined. Although most
jobs were still coupled with physical labor, the diff erentiations between
manual and nonmanual occupations became less pronounced. In keeping
with these developments, a single category of employees (as opposed to
making legal distinctions between blue and white collar workers) had
developed gradually since the 1960s that served as a social policy bench-
mark in the political realm. - Increasing labor productivity caused a singular rise in affl uence. For
most of the years between 1950 and 1970, the West German economy
exhibited growth rates between 7 and 14 percent. The per capita income
of the population increased fi vefold during the same period. Especially
for workers, this “explosion of wealth”^15 paved the way for improvements
in their lives that were “spectacular, comprehensive, and revolutionary