East-West divide will persist in Germany

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
East Germany ◽  
National Level ◽  
West Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ruhr Area ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
Skills Shortage ◽  
East West

Subject Differences between East and West Germany. Significance Considerable investment notwithstanding, the economy in East Germany is still weaker than in the West. This is compounded by demographic change. Moreover, voting behaviour and the distribution of political attitudes in the East are markedly different from the West. These factors will continue to shape political processes on the national level. Impacts The skills shortage in the East is unlikely to be alleviated by migration as the anti-immigration sentiment persists. The necessary reallocation of tax funds to East Germany will remain a bone of contention. The continuing decline of some industrial areas in the West (particularly in the Ruhr area) will exacerbate this conflict.

scholarly journals The Berlin Wall after Fifty Years: Introduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hope M. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
The West ◽  
West Berlin ◽  
East And West ◽  
East West

Fifty years ago on 13 August 1961, the East Germans sealed the east-westborder in Berlin, beginning to build what would become known as theBerlin Wall. Located 110 miles/177 kilometers from the border with WestGermany and deep inside of East Germany, West Berlin had remained the“last loophole” for East Germans to escape from the communist GermanDemocratic Republic (GDR) to the western Federal Republic of Germany(FRG, West Germany). West Berlin was an island of capitalism and democracywithin the GDR, and it enticed increasing numbers of dissatisfied EastGermans to flee to the West. This was particularly the case after the borderbetween the GDR and FRG was closed in 1952, leaving Berlin as the onlyplace in Germany where people could move freely between east and west.By the summer of 1961, over 1,000 East Germans were fleeing westwardsevery day, threatening to bring down the GDR. To put a stop to this, EastGermany’s leaders, with backing from their Soviet ally, slammed shut this“escape hatch.”

Human Capital, Job Tasks and Technology in East Germany After Reunification

2007 ◽  
Vol 201 ◽  
pp. 97-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Spitz-Oener
Keyword(s):  
East Germany ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
The West ◽  
Job Tasks ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East German ◽  
Surprising Finding

At the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, employees in East Germany were at least as well educated as employees in West Germany in terms of formal educational qualifications. However, it is unclear to what extent the skills and knowledge acquired through the East German education system, and through employment in a socialist labour market, are transferable to the new market-based economy. This study aims to shed light on this issue by giving a comprehensive description of the work of those employees who remained employed after the first phase of restructuring (i.e. in 1991) in East Germany, and comparing it with work in West Germany. Overall, the similarity between workplaces in East and West Germany soon after reunicication is striking. In addition, the patterns of task changes between 1991 and 1999 were very similar in both parts of Germany. Neither the level of task inputs in1991 nor the changes in task inputs between 1991 and 1999 were driven by cohort effects, a surprising finding given how differently the age groups were affected by the historical event. The Largest difference between the east and the west exists in terms of workplace computerisation. Although East Germany has caught up rapidly, it was still lagging behind the west in terms of computer use in 1999.

scholarly journals Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Klein ◽  
Katherin Barg ◽  
Michael Kühhirt
Keyword(s):  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East And West ◽  
Diversity In Education ◽  
Inequality Of Educational Opportunity

Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variations in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Post-reunification, East Germany adopted the West's systems and experienced an economic recession. IEO had been smaller in East than in West Germany but was on an upward trajectory before reunification. After 1990, IEO in East Germany converged to the West German level as a result of decreased IEO in the West and increasing levels in the East. Post-reunification convergence suggests differences in political context and education policy are crucial for IEO.

scholarly journals Regional Aspect: Commodity Structure of Germany’s Exports

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-107
Author(s):  
Maria Gracheva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
West Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
Federal Lands ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
Regional Aspect ◽  
Federal Statistical ◽  
The Given ◽  
Export Specialization ◽  
East West

The article examines the specificity of commodities exports of Germany’s eastern and western lands. The indicators of sectoral export specialization are determined by comparing sectoral export quotas of the federal lands and the East/West with the general German sectoral export quotas. Calculations are based on data from the country's Federal Statistical Office for 2008 and 2019. As a result of the analysis of the indicators obtained, the general characteristics of the export specifics in relation to industrial branches and federal lands in two parts of the country are formulated, changes among the main specialized branches are explored, the roles of individual lands in the creation of export profiles of East and West Germany and the degree of correspondence between export profiles of the East/West and their lands are determined. The author outlines the convergence of new and old lands in various dimensions of specialization, the success of the East in the competition for specialization in the cars export and the preservation of significant Western advantages in the mechanical engineering’s export specialization and in the formation of new sectoral export focuses, and highlights the federal lands that have achieved high efficiency in the given field (Saxony in the East and Baden-Württemberg in the West).

scholarly journals Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Do East and West Germans still differ in their attitudes towards women’s employment and the division of housework?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gundula Zoch
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
East West

Previous cross-sectional studies show less traditional gender ideologies among East Germans after German reunification and even suggest slightly increasing East-West disparities. These findings challenge the assumptions of stable ideologies over the life-course as well as cohort replacement-based convergence over time. This study expands on previous research by analysing differences and trends in gender ideologies in the context of East and West Germany using data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008-2018). It distinguishes between three cohorts born in the early 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who have different socialisation experiences before and after reunification. The results show smaller East-West differences in gender ideologies for the youngest cohort compared with larger gaps for the two older cohorts born before reunification. Convergence of ideologies is partly due to modernisation trends in West Germany and re-traditionalisation effects in East Germany across cohorts, but also due to attitudinal changes with age. Attitudes towards housework and female employment have particularly converged, while views on maternal employment and the consequences for children’s well-being continue to differ between East and West Germany. The findings underline the importance of persistent, long-lasting ideology differences due to the regime‐specific socialisation and composition resulting from the division of Germany, but also emphasizes the role of ideology change across cohorts and over the life-course for the overall converging trends in gender ideologies.

scholarly journals Abstieg West durch Aufbau Ost?

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (135) ◽  
pp. 321-329
Author(s):  
Ulrich Busch
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
West Germany ◽  
German Unification ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Stagnation ◽  
The Eu

14 years after the German unification East Germany is one of the largest European problem areas. Loss of population, economic stagnation and the dependence on transfers from the West determine the situation. With the expansion of the EU, East Germany can become the German mezzogiorno. In this situation a group of experts demands radical measures form the federal government. But these measures will worsen the living conditions in East Germany, which are already very different to those in West Germany.

Transit to East Germany: The Distribution and Reception of Once Upon a Time in the West in the German Democratic Republic

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Stott
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
The West ◽  
Nation States

This chapter examines the relocation, transition, and appropriation of the Spaghetti Western in a hitherto under-researched context: the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), prior to its unification with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1990. It explores the selection, distribution and reception of Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West, Sergio Leone, 1968) in the German Democratic Republic as a case study of how international cultural transfer causes objects of cultural production to be repositioned as they enter a new reception context. It also examines the ideological, economic, and sociological concerns underpinning the decisions of those who facilitated the movement of film across the political, cultural, and linguistic boundaries of nation states. In East Germany, the facilitators involved in the selection, censorship, dubbing, and promotion of films were mainly government administrators rather than film business professionals, because film was a state-controlled industry. The chapter focuses on the ‘official’ reception of the film on the basis of available censorship protocols and government policy papers, as well as print media sources.

Geschlechtsspezifische Ost-West-Unterschiede im Erwerbsverlauf

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 445-466
Author(s):  
Dana Müller ◽  
Michaela Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Gender Specific Differences ◽  
East And West ◽  
Gender Specific

Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Entwicklung geschlechtsspezifischer Ungleichheiten über die letzten drei Jahrzehnte in Ost- und Westdeutschland. Unterschiede zwischen beiden Regionen bestehen nach wie vor. Sie haben ihren Ursprung in den verschiedenen gesellschaftlichen Ansätzen der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter vor der Wiedervereinigung und den unterschiedlichen strukturellen Gegebenheiten am Arbeitsmarkt. Dennoch besitzen nach wie vor weder die Frauen in Westdeutschland noch in Ostdeutschland die gleichen Einkommens- und Karrierechancen wie Männer. Die Bemühungen des Staates, den Abbau geschlechtsspezifischer Ungleichheiten voranzutreiben, werden anhand der zahlreichen Maßnahmen der letzten Jahre sichtbar. Sie reichen aber noch nicht aus, wie die Zahlen im Beitrag zeigen. Abstract: Gender-specific Differences on the Labour Market in East and West Germany This article describes the development of gender inequalities over the last three decades in East and West Germany. There are still differences between the two regions. They have their origin in the different social concepts to gender equality before reunification and the different structural conditions on the labour market. Nevertheless, not only women in West Germany but also in East Germany still do not have the same income and career opportunities as men. The state’s efforts to promote the reduction of gender-specific inequalities are evident from the numerous measures taken in recent years. However, they are not yet sufficient.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Post-Socialist Transition on Inequality of Educational Opportunity: Evidence from German Unification

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-473
Author(s):  
Bastian A Betthäuser
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
East And West ◽  
Inequality Of Educational Opportunity

Abstract In 1990, German unification led to an abrupt and extensive restructuring of the educational system and economy of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as the latter was reintegrated into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). However, the consequences of this large-scale institutional change for the educational inequality between children from different social class backgrounds in East Germany continue to be poorly understood. This article seeks to shed new light on this question by using a quasi-experimental approach to examine the difference in educational inequality between East and West Germany before and after German unification. We compare changes in the class gradient in the attainment of comparable school and university qualifications in East and West Germany across six birth cohorts, including three cohorts of individuals who completed their schooling after unification. We find that before unification, inequality of educational opportunity at the mid-secondary, upper-secondary and tertiary level was substantially lower in East Germany than in West Germany and that unification led to a substantial and sustained convergence of the level of inequality of educational opportunity in East Germany towards that of West Germany.

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