What determines who holds power in the boardrooms of Germany's biggest companies? Is it performance? Or do factors such as social background play a bigger role?

The sociologist Michael Hartmann, an emeritus professor at Darmstadt University of Technology, has studied Germany's executive class as it evolved over the past 150 years, trying to figure out who ends up in top corporate positions and why.

Hartmann told DW that the results surprised him. "To this day, more than four-fifths of Germany's economic elite come from the top three to four percent of the population," he said.

Hartmann said there was a slight shift between 1907 and 1927, with more Germans from lower classes managing to climb the social ladder. "But, in the nearly 100 years that followed," he said, the share of those from lower social backgrounds who made it to the top increased by only about 2 1/2%."

Over the past decade, companies have introduced diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to create a level playing field for labor market participation for all.

According to a recent survey by the technology-sector lobby group Bitkom, two-thirds of German companies with 500 or more employees now have formal DEI goals, and roughly the........

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