New divisions are appearing in the society of the Federal Republic of Germany which relate to people's social inclusion and the quality of their social participation - in other words, the material basis of democracy. In view of such tendencies to social exclusion, further education has to rethink its position if it wants to retain its goal to broaden social participation through education. The present volume makes a contribution to this new orientation by discussing options and limitations in further education, looking at various problem areas from the standpoint of inclusion and exclusion. The Editor Martin Kronauer is professor of social science at the College of Law and Economics in Berlin.