Normalizing capitalism: East Germans experiencing the market economy during the 1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the experiences of East Germans and their adaptation to economic transformations before, during, and after 1989/90. It re-uses social science interviews from the 1990s as historical sources to show how notions of normalization, economic change, and subjectivity were intertwined. Unlike previous research on the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the article conceptualizes “normalization” not as a specific period, but as a way of organizing social and economic change. The concept of normalization, as used in this article, allows experiences of both the socialist planned economy in East Germany and the capitalist market economy that emerged after reunification to be connected as a coherent period. Taking a bottom-up perspective, the article argues that East Germans framed their self-normalization as a process of catching up with Western economic normality, thereby aligning themselves with highly contested theories of modernization. From the subjects’ standpoint, there is little to no mention of ideas or concepts of neoliberalism playing a significant role in this process.