Based upon empirical data derived from a "Mikrozensus-Zusatzbefragung 71" in the Federal Republic of Germany (456,310 people), general patterns and determinations were analyzed relative to the sectoral, occupational, and vertical social mobility of the agricultural population both inside and outside the rural sector. Employing path-analysis, the process of stratification was examined in terms of education and its dependence upon social background (male youth and their fathers' occupations were examined in terms of determination for school and/or occupational education) and the relative importance of educational attainment and social background in the process of stratification (six status categories were established and intergenerational occupational comparisons were made). Results indicated: (1) farm background was a handicap in the process of stratification in the nonfarm sector; (2) in the agricultural sector, as opposed to the non-agricultural sector, the occupational status of farmers' sons was more strongly determined by fathers' occupational status than by the youth's own educational standard; (3) occupational status of the migrant to non-agricultural sectors was more influenced by educational attainment than by social background; (4) occupational migration of farmers and rural workers normally correlated with un- or semi-skilled positions in the secondary sector. (JC)