Social roles and standing

The word in this list an English reader is likeliest to misread is die Protektion. It comes from the same Latin verb as protection, protegere, to cover in front, and a dictionary still lists shelter among its senses. In present-day German, though, it almost always means something narrower: backing from somebody with influence. Er hat die Stelle nur durch Protektion bekommen does not say he was kept safe; it says someone powerful put him in the post, and it is never a compliment. Safety, cover and shelter are der Schutz, and data protection is der Datenschutz, not a word with Protektion in it. Read the loanword as protection and a sentence about string-pulling turns into one about security. The rest of the list names the same unwritten order from other sides: who owes whom, who stands above whom, and who is only watching from the fence.