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Social and Political Structures in West Germany

Social and Political Structures in West Germany

From Authoritarianism to Postindustrial Democracy

Edited by
Ursula Hoffmann-Lange

First published 1991 by Westview Press, Inc.

Published 2019 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1991 Taylor & Francis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Social and political structures in West Germany : from authoritarianism to postindustrial democracy / edited by Ursula Hoffmann-Lange.
p. cm.(Westview special studies in West European politics and society)
Papers presented at a conference held at the University of Texas at Austin, fall 1986, sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service and the College of Liberal Arts and Dept. of Government, University of Texas.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8133-8029-4
1. Germany (West)Politics and governmentCongresses. 2. Political cultureGermany (West)Congresses. 3. Social structureGermany (West)Congresses. 4. Germany (West)Economic policyCongresses. I. Hoffmann-Lange, Ursula. II. Deutscher Adademischer Austauschdienst. III. University of Texas at Austin. College of Liberal Arts. IV. University of Texas at Austin. Dept. of Government. V. Series.
JN3971.A2S62 1991
320.943'09045dc20

90-25489
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-28744-3 (hbk)

Contents

, Lewis J. Edinger

PART ONE
WEST GERMANY'S SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE

, Jens Alber

, M. Donald Hancock

PART TWO
VOTERS AND ELITES

, Russell J. Dalton

, Ursula Hoffmann-Lange

, David Crew

PART THREE
POLITICAL CULTURE

, David P. Conradt

, Wendy J. Hoag

, Dagmar Barnouw

, Peter Jelavich

PART FOUR
POLICIES IN WEST GERMANY

, Thomas A. Baylis

, Marilyn Hoskin

, Robert C. Rickards

, Jrgen Schmandt

Guide

The contributions assembled in this volume were originally presented at a workshop on West Germany at the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 1986. This workshop was jointly sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service and the College of Liberal Arts and Department of Government of the University of Texas. The main responsibility for the organization of the workshop lay with the editor, assisted by Gloria Tidwell of the Department of Government.

The workshop provided a forum for the discussion of recent developments in West German society and politics. Experts on West Germany were invited to present lectures. The lectures and discussions were open to an interested public, notably faculty and students from UT Austin as well as other institutions of higher education in Texas. They focused on the social and political cultural preconditions of democracy in West Germany.

For a long time, Ralf Dahrendorf's book Society and Democracy in Germany (New York: Norton, 1967) has been the most influential analysis of West German social structure and political culture. His conclusions have widely been regarded as authoritative both inside and outside of Germany. Because Dahrendorf put great emphasis on pointing out historical continuities, the lecturers at the workshop were asked to take his theses as a starting point for their contributions. The actual references to Dahrendorf in the individual chapters here are more or less explicit, depending on the topic. For those authors dealing with social structure, elites, and political culturetopics central to Dahrendorfs booksuch references are much more obvious than for those who, for instance, deal with policy questions. However, even the latter chapters show the inapplicability of many of Dahrendorfs theses to West German reality in the mid-1980s. All stress the enormous changes that have taken place in West Germany over the last forty years. And numerous references to other industrialized democracies, especially the United States, show an amazing similarity in the structures as well as the problems of such societies.

The range of topics addressed in this volume is fairly broad. Lewis J. Edinger's introduction presents a framework for the analysis of West deals with the current setting, i.e., West Germany's social and economic structure. The contributions by Jens Alber and Donald Hancock analyze major changes from pre-1945 structures, showing that the present structures no longer act as impediments to democratic politics.

turns to the actors, analyzing changes in electoral behavior as well as in the structure and attitudes of West German elites (Russell J. Dalton, Ursula Hoffmann-Lange). Neilher West German voters nor elites differ greatly from their counterparts in other Western democracies. David Crew's article on the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) from the late nineteenth century until the collapse of the Weimar Republic is more than a historical piece with little bearing on today's West Germany. In essence, it argues that the development of the SPD from a revolutionary to a reformist party actually occurred during the Weimar period. This means that the famous Godesberg program of 1959 in fact had its historical roots in the 1920s and constituted much less of a break with the past than was often presumed. Crew's contribution also challenges Dahrendorfs thesis about the German labor movement's inability to grasp the basic preconditions of a liberal democratic political order.

also deals with actors, albeit from a broader, cultural perspective. Its chapters look into the support for the West German political order among the general public and one particularly crucial cultural group, the intellectuals. Although the general public over the last forty years has increasingly embraced West Germany's democratic institutions (David P. Conradt), the same cannot be said about some of that nation's leading intellectuals. Peter Jelavich shows convincingly that the political cabaret has lost much of its critical sting, partly because it could not resist the temptations of achieving broader popularity by watering down its political messages and emphasizing its entertainment qualities and partly because the political developments both inside and outside of Germany made cabaretists lose their vision of an alternative and more perfect political system. Dagmar Barnouw's discussion of the German intellectual tradition of denigrating technological development and mass culture in favor of an elitist concept of "high" culture is the only contribution that emphasizes a uniquely "German" phenomenon and its problematic persistence. Wendy J. Hoag, finally, portrays the changes among West German youth.

until the spring of 1990 when German unification had already become imminent. Marilyn Hoskin shows how attitudes toward the several million foreigners living in West Germany have changed. Robert Rickards and Jrgen Schmandt discuss the ways specific policy problems are dealt with, utilizing a comparative perspective. Rickards's analysis shows that budgetary policy in West Germany is largely incremental and thereby contributes to political continuity and stability, but Schmandt's contribution arrives at the pessimistic conclusion that continuity also has its drawbacks in the case of novel challenges like the acid rain problem. To cope with these challenges would require the speedy implementation of major policy changes. Thus far, however, national governments have not been able to develop satisfactory and sweeping solutions for these global problems.

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