Can the rise of populism be explained by the growing chasm between rich and poor? With regard to Germany, such a causal relationship must be rejected. Income distribution in Germany has been very stable since 2005, and people’s knowledge on actual inequality and economic development is limited: inequality and unemployment are massively overestimated. At the same time, a persistently isolationist and xenophobic group with diverse concerns and preferences has emerged within the middle classes of society that riggers support for populist (...) parties. This mood is based on welfare chauvinism against immigration rather than on a general criticism of distribution. Since the immigration of recent years will inevitably affect the relevant indicators concerning distribution, an open, cautious but less heated approach is needed in the debate on the future of the welfare state. In order to address and take the local concerns of citizens seriously, an increased exchange with public officials on the ground is needed. (shrink)

1. Dilemmas of Science: Tensions between University and SocietyThe German philosopher Hans Blumenberg formulated this over thirty years ago: “The great enigma of the closing second millennium is and will perhaps remain the growing aversion to science.”1 Regardless of the time-related motivation and conditionality of his statement, Blumenberg draws our attention to dilemmas that are fundamentally formative for science due to the way they are linked. These are dilemmas that have not lost their significance since then but rather have increased (...) in importance over the last decade. (shrink)