How Culture Matters: Culture and Social Change in the Federal Republic of Germany

In December 1995, the Center for German and European Studies atthe University of California at Berkeley hosted the conference, “ThePostwar Transformation of Germany: Prosperity, Democracy, andNationhood.” During the proceedings and in the edited volume thatresulted, conference contributors explored the reasons for Germany’ssuccess in making the transition to a liberal democratic politysupported by a rationalized national identity and a modern, dynamiccapitalist economy. In charting postwar Germany’s success, the contributorsweighed the relative contribution institutional, cultural, andinternational variables made to the country’s transformation.