Problematic Normalization: Eastern German Workers Eight Years after Unification

Abstract

How can one best investigate the mental attitudes and patterns ofbehavior of eastern Germans eight years after political unification?Since 1990, the method dominating this discussion has been basedon measuring the degree to which easterners have “caught up” withthe supposedly more modern western Germans. However, empiricalstudies and surveys have shown that this model is an ineffective, eveninappropriate means of describing how unification has impacted thelives of eastern Germans. In this article, I argue that a more appropriateapproach is to consider the enduring differences in the opportunitystructures among eastern and western Germans, as well as thedifferences in their respective behavioral patterns. In this context,“opportunity structure” refers to the opportunities provided and limitationsimposed by social structures. For the analysis of opportunitystructures, I focus on what I call “contradictory adaptation” and“problematic normalization.” My analysis of behavioral patternsemphasizes the logic internal to the subjects themselves (Eigenlogik).This internal logic differs significantly from outsiders’ interpretationsof easterners’ behavior, as the following example illustrates.