The author analyses rise and crisis of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) as an example of a "Volkspartei." The book centres on the biographical exploration of two generations of prominent party leaders. The members of the first generation exemplify the experience of National Socialism, war and post war party history. The second generation represents the "great grandchildren," who succeeded Lafontaine and Schroeder. The study follows the methods of an historical and sociological habitus/field approach inspired by Bourdieu. The analysis of the political field was multidimensional, issuing from the erosion of the party system of the Weimar Republic and concentrating on the conflicts of factions within the SPD after 1945. The sample was selected according to the typological field of political leaders for biographical, and partly on theme-focused, interviews which were analysed by the methods of typological habitus hermeneutics including life, political and religious background dimensions. The typological field of political leaders is analysed by biographical case studies. The typological analysis is comparative, related to the historical context of the changes of social structure and the rules of political field. Finally it was possible to explain how the new leadership ceased to represent the full range of party members and voters.