In a country that is considered exemplary, the far-right has already entered the Bundestag, where it is now. Almost all post-election analyses focus on the Berlin Government ' s policy towards foreigners to explain the rise of the xenophobic party. A one-look analysis, no doubt. Although it is a very important issue, asylum policy has not been the only factor explaining the increase in the radical voice. In the successful Germany, the deterioration of the socio-economic reality is evident.

It cannot be denied that the dynamism of job creation is extraordinary and that, in general, there has been an average wage increase in recent times. The main European country has been able to take advantage of the bonuses generated by the euro zone in the last decade and a half. For example, it has managed to reduce the unemployment rate from 8.5% in 2007 to 4.4% in 2016, in the midst of the economic crisis.

However, these positive macroeconomic data have not slowed down the deterioration of the recent employment and social situation. Germany is also the country of the decline in social cohesion and growing inequalities, caught up in the austere politics and adjustment measures of the government of Angela Merkel. As a sign of the strong inequalities in the country, the German Gini index – coefficient – is among the highest in the European Union. What is more, the disparity in the income of society is increasing. The crisis has reinforced the concentration of income and wealth in the Basque Country. 10% of society had 65% of total wealth in 2016, according to Credit Suiss data. At the other end, 15% of the population (over 12 million people) lived below the poverty line in 2015. In the country of the billionaires there are millions of poor people, what a paradox!

On the other hand, labour market analysis does not show any better situation either. Job creation has been rapid in recent times, but the quality of many new jobs is very weak. Jobs known as temporary or part-time mini-jobos with a very low wage have been deployed very quickly. Last year 11 million workers were employed in this category, accounting for 26.7% of total employment. And over 2 billion people are forced to do work, which is forced by part-time precariousness and low wages.

The German Oliver Nachtwey has taken a photograph and an analysis of this harsh reality in his latest book, The Society of the Fall. According to the author's thesis, since the 1970s the social elevator has taken a opposite direction in Western countries, as well as in their own country, where precariousness and social polarization are the bread of every day. And yet, German society sees itself as the society of ascent. But with the Great Recession, we are in post-growth capitalism, and the resources and the will for social integration are running out.

Nachtwey insists that there has been a reformed modernisation, but that it has been retrograde. In fact, social freedom and economic deregulation are taken together: although steps have been taken towards equality, in the economic sphere, steps have been taken backwards. For example, women have a greater presence in the labour market but are more precarious. In Germany, the tension between capitalism and democracy, between freedom and equality, continues to increase, causing new forms of conflict. Therefore, in the society of descent, political alienation generates apathy and xenophobia, but also new forms of citizen protest.