The False Promise of Advancement Backdrop Blur
The False Promise of Advancement Poster
Germany
NR 1h 30m

The False Promise of Advancement

Origin sticks like shit to your shoe! That's what Marlen Hobrack says, who grew up as a working-class child in Bautzen. But the promise of the old Federal Republic was that you can become anything if you just try hard enough. But that no longer applies. So is class in Germany fixed from birth? Have we long been living in a country in which origin and family background are more important for future prospects than individual performance and commitment? In Germany, it takes six generations to rise from poverty to the middle class, in Denmark only two generations. Those affected reflect on their life stories, the burden of their social origins, the wrong and right turning points for social advancement, as classified by social researchers. They talk of pride and shame, of financial hardship and wealth, of origin and future, of growing up and moving up in this Germany with its entrenched selection mechanisms for social advancement.

Watch Now

Top Cast

  • Marlen Hobrack

    Marlen Hobrack

    Self - Interviewee

  • Scott Wempe

    Scott Wempe

    Self - Interviewee

  • Natalya Nepomnyashcha

    Natalya Nepomnyashcha

    Self - Interviewee

  • Jörg Theobald

    Jörg Theobald

    Self - Interviewee

  • Stephanie zu Guttenberg

    Stephanie zu Guttenberg

    Self - Interviewee

  • Cawa Younosi

    Cawa Younosi

    Self - Interviewee

  • Martyna Linartas

    Martyna Linartas

    Self - Interviewee

  • Marcel Helbig

    Marcel Helbig

    Self - Interviewee

  • Michael Hartmann

    Michael Hartmann

    Self - Interviewee

Overview

Origin sticks like shit to your shoe! That's what Marlen Hobrack says, who grew up as a working-class child in Bautzen. But the promise of the old Federal Republic was that you can become anything if you just try hard enough. But that no longer applies. So is class in Germany fixed from birth? Have we long been living in a country in which origin and family background are more important for future prospects than individual performance and commitment? In Germany, it takes six generations to rise from poverty to the middle class, in Denmark only two generations. Those affected reflect on their life stories, the burden of their social origins, the wrong and right turning points for social advancement, as classified by social researchers. They talk of pride and shame, of financial hardship and wealth, of origin and future, of growing up and moving up in this Germany with its entrenched selection mechanisms for social advancement.

Related Movies

56 Up

When a cross-section of seven-year-olds were interviewed for 7 Up in 1964 it was immediately evident that their social backgrounds influenced their attitudes towards life. While the upper class children were confident and self-assured, those from middle and working class backgrounds were resigned to a challenging life of hard work. This premise was put to the test every seven years when the same group were interviewed about the progression of their lives. 49 years in the making, the changes that occurred to the original 14 make for fascinating television and are in many ways the stories of all our lives. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life has been captured on film. Now, at the age of 56, the group are once more brought together and, with the benefit of hindsight, assess whether their lives have been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.

56 Up

7.2 2012