In 1990, Germany once again became a reunited country after the collapse of the socialistic German Democratic Republic [GDR]. Although most of the East Germans were positive about the reunification, the consequences of their transformation into the West German system came as a shock to many. The current study examines what successful and unsuccessful socialization processes look like, how identities are constructed, and why work, family, and free-time activities are important. More specifically, the study focuses on what these elements looked like in the GDR. Research shows that many East Germans had troubles adjusting to the new type of society after the reunification. Together, the results of this study demonstrate that there are still significant differences on several factors between East and West Germans today. Discrepancies continue to exist in integration and work, with the unemployment rate in the East of Germany still being higher than in the West. In terms of identity construction, even after 20 years since the reunification (in 2009) over 50% of the East Germans still identified themselves as “East Germans” rather than “Germans”. Values also differ, with East Germans tending to value social security more than West Germans and maintaining higher expectations for the involvement of the government. These differences can be traced back to socialistic socialization processes in East Germans and shows how the GDR continues to affect the identities and integration of East Germans.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-80707 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Westling, Isabelle |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | German |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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