Marienthal: The Sociography of an Unemployed Community

One of the main theses of the Marienthal study was that prolonged unemployment leads to a state of apathy in which the victims do not utilize any longer even the few opportunities left to them. The vicious cycle between reduced opportunities and reduced level of aspiration has remained the focus of all subsequent discussions. So begin the opening remarks to the English-language edition of what has become a major classic in the literature of social stratii– cation.