Biographical Experiences of Generations

Contents
  1. Theses
  2. Genesis of the results of the Collaborative Research Center 580

Theses *

  1. East Germany is highly differentiated 20 years after the unification of Germany. The pattern of development of several East German regions (Jena, Leipzig, Potsdam, Dresden) is comparable to West German regions. However, structurally weak regions often have their own problems and other generational patterns also exist. For example, the mean age of entrepreneurs in East Germany is ten years higher than in West Germany.

  2. This shows that regions and generations create important differences, which develop more and more impact with the advancing transformation process. 20 years after the unification, regional and generational differentiation in Germany overlay the political and infrastructural aftermath of GDR socialism. Therefore, the topic of region and generation is important.

  3. The GDR tried to balance generational and regional differences by the use of social homogenization and regional structural compensation: for example, the GDR invested mainly in structurally weak regions. However, it did not succeed under a centralist socialist dictatorship in eliminating generational and regional conflicts, pressures and differences. On the contrary: new differences arose in the GDR.

  4. Two examples: The GDR supported the generation, which was 18-30 years of age at the time of their establishment. In the new state they were integrated into positions with good opportunities for advancement. This created a very loyal “founding Generation” that later turned out to be a “lead plate” which blocked social mobility and provoked resistance in younger generations.

    The GDR supported structurally weak regions which led to neglect of established industrial regions as well as religious and regional traditions. As a result, regional obstinacy and resistance to centralism flourished.
    These regional and generational patterns of the GDR become relevant in the transformation.

  5. The expansion of generational and regional differences increasingly overlays the simple East-West contrast in the transformation process. Without understanding the generational and regional movements it is impossible to interpret the development in present-day East Germany.

Genesis of the results of the Collaborative Research Center 580 *

The theses mentioned above are related to the following research projects of the Collaborative Research Center 580:

  • Youth Welfare in Transformation Processes (sub-project C3)
  • Social-moral Maps of Committed and Uninvolved Citizens (sub-project C4)
  • Individual and Social Resources for Coping With Social Change (sub-project C6)
  • Economic Elites in an Expanded Europe: Recruitment, Careers and Orientations of Economic Elites (sub-project A2)
  • Spheres of Experience and Levels of Expectation in a Period of Generational Transition. Chances of Participation and Interpretation Systems of Selected Cultural Elites (sub-project A5)
  • New Business Formation and the Labor Market in East- and West-German Growth Regimes (sub-project B10)