This book examines the increasing body of research dedicated to the lasting differences between the former separate states of the Federal German Republic (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it takes a broad view on German unification and transformation research.
Transformation and unification processes in East and West Germany are still ongoing, and they may serve as a model for social change and its political, economic, and psychological consequences. Using advanced statistical methods of analysis, this edited volume provides insights into the valuable contextualization of individual and social phenomena that current research on German unification and transformation is producing.
Following the open science mindset using code and data, the authors investigate temporal trends in (1) mental health, (2) political attitudes, and (3) work and family life. It explores changes in mental health and political attitudes, as well as continued differences in work and family arrangements, that may stem from heterogeneous experiences within the systems and during the transformation process. This book will appeal to scholars and students from the disciplines of sociology, political science, public health, social psychology, psychology, and communication science interested in postsocialist transition processes and temporal changes in individuals and societies.
1. Introduction Part 1: Indicators of mental health and distress—Did the “peaceful revolution” create a “peace of mind?” 2. Mental health in East and West Germany from reunification to the present 3. Exploring the burden of past trauma in East Germany 4. Disentangling age, period, and cohort effects shaping suicidal ideation in East and West Germany: An analysis of representative survey data spanning 18 years Part 2: Political attitudes—Does the wall persist in thoughts and worldviews? 5. Influence of GDR identification before German reunification on political support 20 years later 6. Antisemitism in East and West Germany. Three decades after the wall: A comparative longitudinal study considering age-period-cohort effects 7. Religiosity, non-denominationalism, and their political consequences in East and West Germany after the upheaval of 1989 8. Putting authoritarianism in context: A multilevel analysis of regional effects on individual expressions of right-wing authoritarianism, conspiracy mentality, and superstition Part 3: Work and family in and after the socialist reality 9. The (fe-)male breadwinner? Beliefs about gender roles in East Germany: An age-period-cohort analysis 10. The development of wealth and its role in the “happiness gap” between East and West Germans: A comparison of affective and cognitive subjective well-being 11. Effects of job loss in romantic relationships: A fixed effects regression analysis
Ayline Heller is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher and consultant at GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim, Germany. Peter Schmidt is professor emeritus at the Department of Political Science at the University of Giessen, Germany. Currently, he is a research fellow at the University Medical Center in Mainz, Germany.
