Social Change and the Life Course in East Germany: A Cohort Approach to Inequalities

The post-1989 structural upheavals and the renewal of institutions has affected millions of life courses and elicited growing inequalities in East Germany. The implementation of the West German educational, labour market and employment system offers, on the one hand, far more opportunities for a sel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of sociology and social policy 1999-01, Vol.19 (9-11), p.90-114
Main Authors: Weymann, Ansgar, Sackmann, Reinhold, Wingens, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Career development planning
Career Patterns
Cohort analysis
East Germany
Eastern Europe
Economic conditions & forecasts
Education
Education Work Relationship
Employment
Employment Changes
Employment interviews
Experimental/theoretical
Family Work Relationship
Fertility
Generational Differences
German Democratic Republic
German Reunification
Labor economics
Labor market
Life course
Life Cycle
Longitudinal studies
Modernization
Occupational Mobility
Personnel policies
Relationship
Sexual Inequality
Skilled workers
Social Change
Social impact
Social inequalities
Social Inequality
Social policy
Sociology
Statistical analysis
Studies
Training & development
Unemployment
Workers
Working Women
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Summary:The post-1989 structural upheavals and the renewal of institutions has affected millions of life courses and elicited growing inequalities in East Germany. The implementation of the West German educational, labour market and employment system offers, on the one hand, far more opportunities for a self-determined life course in various respects, but on the other hand supplies much weaker institutional guidance than the former centralized, socialist GDR. The far-reaching macro social change has profoundly affected micro life course patterns. Life after 1989 is more self-determined, mobile, and flexible, but there are much higher risks of failure. A longitudinal study analyzed three cohorts of East Germans in their transitions from education to employment and subsequent occupational careers from 1985 on. The project observes the professional development of skilled workers and academics who graduated from vocational schools or universities in 1985, 1990, and 1995. Results indicate that changes in the macro structure and life courses are closely interrelated. After unification, the East German labour market was characterized by a shrinking workforce, by changing importance of economic sectors, and by high unemployment rates.
ISSN:0144-333X
1758-6720