"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 stratification.

Marie Jahoda, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Hans Zeisel

INTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSACTION EDITION, FOREWORD TO THE AMERICAN EDITION Forty Years Later, I. Introduction, 2. The Industrial Village, 3. The Living Standard, 4. Menus and Budgets, 5. A Weary Community, 6. Response to Deprivation, 7. The Meaning of Time, 8. Fading Resilience, AFTERWORD, Toward a History of Sociography, Index