Wealth research

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The wealth of research deals with issues of distribution, generation and use of wealth . Initially, it was primarily about questions of distributive justice, that is, the question of whether social wealth was "fairly" distributed. In connection with the poverty and wealth reports of the federal government, which were published in 2001, 2005, 2008 and 2012, numerous empirical papers appeared. These mainly related to the question of how income distribution has developed. Income recipients who receive 200 percent of the net equivalent income were referred to as “rich”.

As far as the amount of wealth is concerned, the theses differ from what size a person can be described as "rich". Rainer Zitelmann assumes that a person can use the income from their capital assets - without consuming capital - to achieve an income that corresponds to 300 percent of the average net household income. Assuming a net return of 3 percent, then someone who has net assets of EUR 2.4 million can be described as rich.

Research direction

In the past few years a research direction has been established that a. studied the relationship between wealth and philanthropy . These works are about why, with what aim and to what extent the rich are involved in philanthropy in Germany, i.e. donations, founding foundations, etc. Finally, there are works in which the lifestyle, milieu and media representation of the rich are described . The focus of the dissertations by Dorothee Spannagel and Daniel Brenner published in 2013 and 2018 are empirical analyzes of the living conditions, lifestyles and milieus of the rich and their representation in selected leading print media.

Thomas Druyen has divided "wealth research" into the following sub-areas:

A. Wealth / wealth (social structure research, material)

  • distribution
  • genesis
  • use

B. Assets (cultural research in / material)

  • Family and corporate networks
  • Social Commitment
  • Attitudes and lifestyles

C. Property psychology / property ethics (individual)

  • Mental types
  • Personality traits
  • Empathy and morality

As part of the research project “Assets in Germany” initiated by Wolfgang Lauterbach at the University of Potsdam , several scientific studies were carried out. 472 interviews were carried out with people whose net assets averaged EUR 2.3 million, with a median of EUR 1.4 million. With this research project, "for the first time in the context of a primary statistical survey that goes well beyond individual case studies with regard to the number of cases and the survey content, people and households with high wealth were surveyed with a standardized survey instrument and a clear focus on questions about the type and amount of financial investments".

Melanie Böwing-Schmalenbrock has developed the following research results in a dissertation that came about as part of this project: The most important prerequisite for building assets from gainful employment is professional independence, i.e. H. the activity as a freelancer or especially as an entrepreneur. Above all, entrepreneurship is a guarantee for very high wealth. Average wealth increases with the relevance of entrepreneurship: households that got rich this way have an average wealth 2.5 million higher than households in which this aspect did not play a role. Dependent employment, however, rarely turns out to be a source of wealth. Inheritances play a role in the genesis of wealth, but are not as important as employment . In more than half of the rich households, gainful employment dominates over inheritance. With the level of wealth, personality traits become increasingly important, the other individual aspects lose their importance. According to the results of the study “Wealth in Germany”, a greater “openness” and a lower “tolerance” are a personality trait of the rich in particular - compared to the middle class.

Analyzes by Wolfgang Lauterbach prove that the importance of entrepreneurship increases with the degree of wealth achieved. Lauterbach has the share of entrepreneurs in the middle class (median assets at 160,000 euros), affluents (median assets at 750,000 euros), high net worth individuals (median assets at 3.4 million euros), among the 100 richest Germans (Median assets of 1.5 billion euros) and those of the 100 richest people in the world (median assets of 10.5 billion euros). Among the affluents, the proportion of entrepreneurs is 37.8 percent, among the HNWIs 64.6 percent, among the 100 richest Germans 98 percent and among the 100 richest people in the world 95.2 percent. “It is empirically evident that wealth is only made possible through professional independence. Wealth hardly arises through dependent employment. ”Lauterbach also confirms that personality traits play a decisive role. “The more boundaries between layers have disappeared in modern societies due to the process of individualization, the more important it is - besides structural factors - also personal characteristics such as 'openness to new things' or a 'willingness to take risks', for example to invest. The type of action - whether risk averse or willing to take risks, for example - is determined by personality. "

The question of the social benefit of the rich is controversial. “Why our society needs the rich” is critically discussed by Zitelmann, who above all underlines the importance of entrepreneurship for society. Daniel Brenner takes a broader perspective, differentiating between a "manifest" and "latent" meaning and observing that the rich are always a mirror of social values and potential pioneers of social change at the same time.

In February 2017, the first qualitative social science study of the very wealthy with a two- to three-digit million fortune appeared in Germany under the title: “Psychology of the super-rich. The hidden knowledge of the wealthy elite ”. The study by Rainer Zitelmann was developed as a dissertation at the University of Potsdam. For the investigation, in-depth interviews were conducted with 45 very wealthy people. Most of the respondents were self-made multimillionaires. Persons who owed their wealth mainly to inheritances were not taken into account. The study shows that a high proportion of the super-rich were already doing business while they were at school or university. The very high proportion of people who were competitive athletes in their youth is astonishing. On the other hand, the level of education did not play a decisive role for the level of wealth within the group: In the upper quarter of the respondents (assets between EUR 300 million and EUR 3 billion) there were even more people without a university degree than in the lower quarter (assets between EUR 10 and 30 million ). Highly wealthy people are usually less guided in their decisions by analyzes, but act intuitively. The tacit knowledge gained as a result of tacit - often informal - learning experiences was far more crucial than academic education.

Since most of the interviewed high-net-worth individuals came to their wealth as entrepreneurs or investors, the motives for self-employment were asked in detail. The willingness to take risks and conflict was also examined. All respondents completed a personality test based on the "Big Five" approach. It turned out that the conscientiousness was particularly strong and the neuroticism was particularly weak among the very wealthy. The extraversion and the openness to new experiences were also pronounced. This corresponded to previous research results. In contrast, research has so far underestimated the role of sales skills in the financial success of the very wealthy: You yourself value the importance of these skills extremely highly. Most of the high net worth had to deal with significant setbacks and crises on their way to wealth - and it turned out in the interviews that there are many similarities in the way they deal with defeat. An important result of the study: Many self-made super-rich are outspoken non-conformists who have repeatedly swum against the tide and have been able to build up their wealth in this way.

Sociological publications: Psychology of social envy

In 2019 the study by Rainer Zitelmann “Society and its rich. Prejudices against an envied minority ”. Zitelmann criticizes that scientific prejudice research has so far hardly dealt with the minority of the rich. His book is based on an international survey by the Allensbach and Ipsos MORI institutes in Germany, the USA, Great Britain and France. On the basis of the survey, three groups were formed, the “social envious”, the “non-envious” and the “ambivalent”. The group of envious people includes 33 percent in Germany, 34 percent in France, 20 percent in the USA and 18 percent in Great Britain. The social envy coefficient indicates the ratio of envious to non-envious in a country. A value of 1 would mean that the number of envious and non-envious people is the same. With a value below 1, the number of people who do not feel pronounced social envy outweighs, with a value above 1, the number of people with pronounced social envy outweighs. The social envy coefficient results when the group of social envious people is related to the group of non-envious people. According to this, social envy is greatest in France with 1.26, followed by Germany with 0.97. In the USA (0.42) and Great Britain (0.37) it is significantly lower. The distinctiveness of these categories is shown above all in the fact that the groups of envious and non-envious groups thus determined differ significantly when it comes to the positioning of dozens of other statements. The group of envious people named egoism, ruthlessness, materialism, arrogance, greed, cold feelings and superficiality as the most common personality traits of the rich. Only two of the 25 personality traits that social envious people mentioned most frequently are positive, while 23 are negative. The most common personality traits of the rich from the point of view of the non-envious group, on the other hand, were diligence, intelligence, daring, materialism, ingenuity and visionary thinking. The study also showed that respondents who know the rich personally rate them much more positively than the majority of respondents who do not know a rich person think of the rich. The study also contains a quantitative media content analysis of the rich image in daily newspapers, but also in Hollywood films.

literature

  • Gajek, Eva Maria; Anne Kurr; Lu Seegers (Ed.): Wealth in Germany. Actors, networks and lifeworlds in the 20th century, Göttingen . Wallstein Verlag, 2019, ISBN 978-3-8353-3409-0 .
  • Gawron, Denise: "Wealth Research in Germany." (2014).
  • Hirschel, Dierk: "The importance of wealth research for distribution policy." Data in economic research. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2013. 113–133.
  • Böwing-Schmalenbrock, Melanie: "The Challenge of Wealth Research: State of Research in Germany." Paths to wealth. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2012. 47–54.
  • Thomas Druyen , Wolfgang Lauterbach, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Wealth and wealth. On the social significance of wealth and wealth research. Springer VS , Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15928-7 .
  • Tarek el Sehitiy, Anna Schor-Tschudnowskaja: Wealthy people in Germany. The perspectives of wealth culture research. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 .
  • Chrystia Freeland : The Super Rich . Rise and rule of a new global money elite. Westend, Frankfurt 2013 ISBN 9783864890451
  • Krysmanski, Hans Jürgen : 0.1% - The billionaire empire . Westend Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-86489-023-9
  • Michael Hartmann : The withdrawn - How the elites endanger democracy . Campus, Frankfurt 2018
  • Rainer Zitelmann : Society and its rich: prejudices about an envied minority , FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95972-163-9 .
  • Rainer Zitelmann : The Rich in Public Opinion: What We Think When We Think about Wealth. Cato Institute, Washington 2020, ISBN 978-1948647670 .

Literature on research results

  • Daniel Brenner: Boundless wealth. Perception, Representation and Significance of Billionaires . University and State Library Münster , Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-8405-0182-1 .
  • Thomas Druyen: About the study “Wealth in Germany” and the future of wealth culture. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 .
  • Markus M. Grabka: Distribution and structure of wealth in Germany. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Michael Hartmann, Miriam Ströing (Ed.): Wealth, Philanthropy and Civil Society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 .
  • Klaus Kortmann: Assets in Germany. The methodological attachments of the investigation. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 .
  • Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 .
  • Wolfgang Lauterbach, Michael Hartmann, Miriam Ströing (eds.): Wealth, Philanthropy and Civil Society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 .
  • Wolfgang Lauterbach, Alexander Tarvenkorn: Homogeneity and heterogeneity of the rich compared to the middle of society. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 .
  • Wolfgang Lauterbach: Rich parallel worlds? Social mobility in Germany for the wealthy and the rich. In: Lauterbach Wolfgang Lauterbach, Michael Hartmann, Miriam Ströing (eds.): Wealth, Philanthropy and Civil Society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 .
  • Wolfgang Lauterbach, Melanie Kramer: "Assets in Germany" (ViD) - a quantitative study. In: Thomas Druyen, Wolfgang Lauterbach, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Wealth and wealth. On the social significance of wealth and wealth research. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15928-7 .
  • Nora Skopek: Fortune in Europe. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Michael Hartmann, Miriam Ströing (Ed.): Wealth, Philanthropy and Civil Society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 .
  • Dorothee Spannagel: Wealth in Germany. Empirical analysis. Springer VS , Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-01740-8 .
  • Miriam Ströing, Melanie Kramer: Wealth and the assumption of social responsibility. In: Wolfgang Lauterbach, Thomas Druyen, Matthias Grundmann (eds.): Assets in Germany. Heterogeneity and responsibility. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 , pp. 95-142.
  • Rainer Zitelmann: Getting and staying rich: your guide to financial freedom. FinanzBook Verlag , Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-89879-920-1 .
  • Rainer Zitelmann: Psychology of the super rich. The hidden knowledge of the wealthy elite. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95972-011-3 .

Others

  • Melanie Böwing-Schmalenbrock: Paths to Wealth. The importance of inheritance, employment and personality for the creation of wealth. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19527-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Zitelmann: Getting rich and staying: Your guide to financial freedom. FinanzBook Verlag , Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-89879-920-1 , p. 30 f.
  2. ^ Dorothee Spannagel: Wealth in Germany. Empirical analysis. Springer VS , Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-01740-8 , Chapters 5 and 6.
  3. ↑ Daniel Brenner: Boundless Wealth. Perception, Representation and Significance of Billionaires. University and State Library Münster , Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-658-01740-8 , Chapters 4–7.
  4. ↑ Thomas Druyen: About the study "Wealth in Germany" and the future of wealth culture. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-17689-5 , p. 213.
  5. ↑ Melanie Böwing-Schmalenbrock: Paths to Wealth. The importance of inheritance, employment and personality for the creation of wealth. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19527-8 , p. 139.
  6. ^ Klaus Kortmann: Fortune in Germany. The methodological attachments of the investigation. In: Lauterbach among other things: Assets in Germany. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2011, p. 15.
  7. ↑ Melanie Böwing-Schmalenbrock: Paths to Wealth. The importance of inheritance, employment and personality for the creation of wealth. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19527-8 , p. 187.
  8. ↑ Melanie Böwing-Schmalenbrock: Paths to Wealth. The importance of inheritance, employment and personality for the creation of wealth. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19527-8 , p. 203.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Lauterbach: Rich parallel worlds? Social mobility in Germany for the wealthy and the rich. In: Lauterbach among others: Wealth, philanthropy and civil society. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 , pp. 77-98.
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Lauterbach, Alexander Tarvenkorn: Homogeneity and heterogeneity of the rich compared to the middle of society. In: Lauterbach among other things: Assets in Germany. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-658-06012-1 , pp. 57-94.
  11. ↑ Rainer Zitelmann: Getting rich and staying: Your guide to financial freedom. FinanzBook Verlag , Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-89879-920-1 , pp. 213–232.
  12. ↑ Daniel Brenner: Boundless Wealth. Perception, Representation and Significance of Billionaires. University and State Library Münster , Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-658-01740-8 , Chapters 8 and 9.
  13. ^ Rainer Zitelmann: Psychology of the super rich. The hidden knowledge of the wealthy elite. Dissertation. University of Potsdam, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, 2016. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95972-011-3 .
  14. ^ Rainer Zitelmann : The society and their rich: Prejudices about an envied minority , FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95972-163-9