North Rhine-Westphalia Zentralabitur Social Sciences/Economics key terms

Economic order in the Federal Republic combining a competitive market with state-backed social safeguards such as co-determination, social insurance and competition law, designed to reconcile economic performance with social balance.

Constitutional guarantee in Article 9(3) of the Basic Law that unions and employers' associations negotiate wages and working conditions without state interference, through collective agreements binding on their members.

Cooperative relationship between trade unions and employers' associations in Germany, marked by collective bargaining, joint self-administration of social insurance and a preference for negotiated compromise over open industrial conflict.

Statutory participation of employees in company decision-making, for example through works councils at plant level and employee representatives on supervisory boards of larger firms, granting codetermination rights in personnel and social matters.

Elected body of employees within a company that represents staff interests towards management, with legally defined rights to information, consultation and codetermination in social, personnel and economic questions.

State policy that protects market competition by prohibiting cartels, abuse of market dominance and harmful mergers, mainly enforced in Germany by the Bundeskartellamt and at EU level by the European Commission.

Macroeconomic policy aiming to smooth the business cycle through fiscal and monetary instruments, stabilising demand, employment and price levels, with the goal of steady growth under the Stability and Growth Act.

Use of government spending and taxation to influence aggregate demand and economic activity, ranging from expansionary deficit spending in downturns to consolidation measures intended to reduce public debt.

Central bank actions managing money supply and interest rates to keep prices stable and support the economy; in the euro area this is decided by the ECB Governing Council and implemented by the Eurosystem.

Set of four macroeconomic goals named in the Stability and Growth Act: price stability, high employment, steady growth and external balance, which frequently conflict and cannot all be maximised at once.

Situation in which achieving one policy objective reduces the chance of achieving another, for example lower inflation requiring higher interest rates that may raise unemployment.

Relationship between policy goals in which progress towards one objective simultaneously supports another, such as growth that creates jobs while keeping inflation low.

Constitutional fiscal rule in Article 109 of the Basic Law limiting structural net borrowing of the federal and state governments, allowing exceptions mainly in emergencies or severe recessions.

System of statutory insurance covering health, long-term care, pension, unemployment and accident risks, financed largely by contributions from employees and employers and based on the insurance principle rather than need.

Constitutional principle in Article 20 of the Basic Law obliging the state to secure social justice, protect against existential risks and provide a minimum subsistence level for all residents.

Basic income support introduced in 2023 replacing the earlier unemployment benefit scheme, providing needs-based transfers to employable people with low income while emphasising qualification and cooperation with job centres.

Unequal distribution of valued resources such as income, wealth, education and status among members of a society, which can be measured on scales and explained by class, milieu or life-course factors.

Relatively stable pattern of social positions, groups and relationships in a society, including class and milieu divisions, demographic composition and institutional arrangements that shape life chances.

Long-term change in social structures, norms and behaviours, such as demographic ageing, changing family forms, digitalisation and shifts in values, observable through indicators and time series.

Change in population size and age composition driven by low birth rates, rising life expectancy and migration, producing ageing societies and pressure on pension, health and care systems.

Share of people whose income lies below a threshold relative to the median, commonly 60 per cent, used as an indicator of relative poverty and social exclusion in official reporting.

Statistical measure of inequality ranging from zero for complete equality to one for complete concentration, derived from the Lorenz curve and used to compare income or wealth distributions across countries.

Movement of individuals or groups between social positions, distinguished as upward or downward and as intra-generational or inter-generational, studied through occupational and educational careers.

Systematic differences in educational attainment and access linked to social origin, income, migration background or gender, often analysed using data on school tracks and transitions.

Form of representative democracy in which the government is elected by and accountable to parliament, which can withdraw confidence, as in the German Bundestag system.

Separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers with mutual checks, meant to prevent concentration of power and guaranteed by the Basic Law's institutional order.

Principle that all state action is bound by law, that courts review it independently, and that fundamental rights are enforceable, forming a core element of the Basic Law's constitutional order.

Procedure under Article 67 of the Basic Law by which the Bundestag can remove the chancellor only by simultaneously electing a successor with an absolute majority, preventing destructive votes of no confidence.

Tendency of members of parliament to vote with their parliamentary group rather than according to personal preference, shaped by party loyalty, career incentives and coalition agreements.

Pattern of parties competing in a political system, characterised by their number, ideological distance and coalition options; Germany's is often described as a moderate pluralism with two major parties.

Electoral threshold requiring a party to win at least five per cent of second votes to enter the Bundestag, justified by the need for stable majorities but criticised as distorting representation.

Electoral system allocating seats in proportion to vote shares, applied in Germany in a personalised form where first votes for candidates and second votes for party lists together determine seat distribution.

Judicial review of legislation and state action by a constitutional court; the Bundesverfassungsgericht can declare laws void and adjudicate disputes between constitutional organs and federal and state levels.

Process by which European states transfer competences to common institutions and deepen cooperation, proceeding from the coal and steel community through the single market to economic and monetary union.

Quality of an international organisation whose decisions bind member states and individuals directly, with institutions acting independently of national governments, as in the European Union's legal order.

Principle that decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level, so the EU acts only where objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by member states, as laid down in the EU treaties.

Central bank of the euro area, responsible for monetary policy with the primary objective of price stability, independent of political instruction and cooperating with national central banks in the Eurosystem.

Growing cross-border interdependence of markets, production, communication and politics, driven by trade liberalisation, technological change and falling transport and communication costs.

Trade policy removing tariffs and other barriers between countries, justified by comparative advantage and gains from specialisation but contested because of adjustment costs and distributional effects.

Policy of shielding domestic producers through tariffs, quotas or subsidies, which can protect jobs and strategic industries but tends to raise prices and invite retaliation by trading partners.

Systematic examination of a source such as a text, statistic, cartoon or speech, considering its type, origin, date, intention, content, argumentation and reliability before interpreting it.

Assessment of a source's origin, author, purpose, context and possible bias in order to judge how far its statements can support an interpretation or argument.

Translation of a theoretical concept into observable indicators and measurable variables so that it can be examined empirically, for example measuring social inequality by income deciles.

Observable variable used as a proxy for a concept that cannot be measured directly, such as the unemployment rate for labour market slack or GDP per capita for living standards.

Reasoned formation of a judgement that distinguishes description and analysis from evaluation, states explicit criteria, weighs counter-arguments and reaches a defensible conclusion.

Analytical distinction between statements about facts that can be tested empirically and evaluative statements based on norms or criteria, which require justification rather than verification.

Educational principle preparing students for academic work by teaching methods of inquiry, source handling, argumentation and independent judgement rather than merely transmitting subject content.