Political disillusionment, unemployment, and new poverty, along with fear of foreigners and acts of violence against immigrants, are reaching unprecedented dimensions. They highlight the dark side of modernization and the helplessness of our institutions. How can these disturbing changes in the social order be understood? This book, based on long-term qualitative and quantitative research in three selected regions and a broad representative survey for the entire area of the former Federal Republic, interprets this transformation as part of a comprehensive modernization of our social structure.