Abstract
This paper proposes and tests for the first time a causal model explaining why people believe in socialism. The propositions are tested for East and West Germany with five repeated cross-sectional surveys of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) between 1991 and 2010. We found that perceived institutional failure and Christian (vs. socialist) socialization diminish the belief in socialism, whereas status deprivation and socialization under communism lead to a strong belief in socialism. We further found a cohort effect: younger cohorts have only weak beliefs in socialism. There was a very weak period effect: belief in socialism decreased, but only very slightly, after unification of East and West Germany over time.
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