Access to desirable social goods, privileged positions, and political participation is permanently and systematically restricted for some social groups. These social and political inequalities have been the focus of social science interest since the Enlightenment. In the last three to four decades, inequalities have again increased sharply in nearly all developed industrial societies. In addition to this rise in social inequality, the multidimensionality and increasing importance of cross-border causes and transnational forms of regulation have also significantly increased both public and scholarly interest in the topic again. Given the considerable theoretical and methodological progress that has been made in the interdisciplinary field of inequality research in recent years, the chances of elaborating the mechanisms of social inequalities in high resolution and thus also providing basic knowledge for the political assessment and, if necessary, regulation of inequalities are better than ever before. In current inequality research, particular attention is paid to the interactions of four institutional spheres that are central to the production and reproduction of social inequalities: Family, Education, Labor Market, and Health. And in the field of political science, the political treatment of these inequalities is studied in the tension between exit (no participation in elections) and voice (articulation of discontent, protest elections, civil resistance ...). In this pillar, the Oldenburg Institute of Social Sciences aims to take up the theoretical and empirical challenges of unequal living conditions and participation opportunities and to investigate the effects of family lifestyles, educational institutions, labor market structures, and political orders on the opportunities, risks, and articulation possibilities of social groups from an interdisciplinary perspective.