Eine neue Ordnung der Arbeit?

The different modifications of the German employment and collective bargaining system during recent decades are discussed and patterns of institutional change are presented. The article also analyses the different adjustment reactions of collective and individual actors that have been identified to date. The most important reactions are the defence of existing rights, the reorganisation of power resources of collective actors, an increasing individualisation of professional careers and the development of a dual-earner family model to compensate for decreasing wages and insecure professional perspectives. As a central trend towards a new employment regime in Germany a bipolar heterogenization is outlined, which supposes the continuity of “old normalities” combined with social polarisation. An important feature is that social status will not depend only on education and employment, but increasingly becomes dependent on which family model is chosen. Finally, further requirements for political reform with a view to the modernisation of the standard employment relationship and liberal corporatism are discussed.