Lifestyles, social milieus and voting behaviour in Germany [Elektronische Ressource] : a comparative analysis of the developments in eastern and western Germany / vorgelegt von Ingvill Constanze Mochmann

Sujets

• Soziologie

Informations

• Publié par: justus-liebig-universitat_giessen
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Lifestyles, social milieus and voting behaviour
in Germany

A comparative analysis of the developments in eastern and western Germany


Dissertation zur Erlangung des
Doktorgrades (Dr. rer. soc.)
des Fachbereichs Gesellschaftswissenschaften
der Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Vorgelegt von
Ingvill Constanze Mochmann
aus Bonn
2002







To my parents
who taught me to fight
for what I believe in



Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Steffen Kühnel for his helpful comments and
valuable criticism throughout the work on this thesis. I would also like to thank him for
giving me the opportunity to carry out the dissertation under his supervision.
Furthermore, I would like to thank colleagues who through discussions have been a big
inspiration during the past years. Special thanks go to Jürgen Sensch and Reiner Mauer. I
am grateful to Ayre Kienle for being so kind to proofread the majority of the thesis.
Nevertheless, the deductions and conclusions presented in this thesis as well as possible
mistakes are my responsibility.
Finally, I am in great debt to my dear husband and my two lovely children who forced me
to work efficiently and kept reminding me of the real values in life.








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Contents

List of Figures and Tables...............................................................................................................................iv
Preface............................................................................................................................................................vii
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................1
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION: THE RISE AND FALL OF SOCIAL MILIEUS....................... 3
1.2 THE PROCESS OF INDIVIDUALISATION AND THE PLURALISATION OF LIFESTYLES ................................ 4
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION AND FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS....................................................................... 6
2. SOCIAL STRUCTURE, VALUE CHANGE AND VOTING BEHAVIOUR...............................11
2.1 THEORIES OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND VOTING BEHAVIOUR ............................................................ 12
2.1.1 Political cleavages and social milieus.....................................................................................12
2.1.2 Lifestyle as a modern concept of social structure...................................................................20
2.1.3 Social milieus and lifestyles in the former GDR ....................................................................23
2.2 THEORIES OF VALUE CHANGE .......................................................................................................... 25
2.2.1 Maslow's motivation theory and Inglehart's theory of post-materialism................................26
2.2.2 Value change in the light of the secularisation process..........................................................28
2.3 THE DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN LIFESTYLE GROUPS AND SOCIAL MILIEUS – THE IMPACT OF
ORGANISATIONAL MEMBERSHIP ....................................................................................................... 30
2.4 A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING CLEAVAGES, LIFESTYLES AND SOCIAL
MILIEUS IN MODERN ELECTORAL RESEARCH .................................................................................... 35
3. TRADITIONAL CLEAVAGES AND SOCIAL MILIEUS............................................................39
3.1 CLEAVAGES AND SOCIAL MILIEUS IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC............... 39
3.1.1 Social moral milieus and the development of the party system..............................................41
3.1.2 The centre-periphery cleavage and the development of regional milieus ..............................46
3.1.3 The religious cleavage and the Catholic milieu......................................................................48
3.1.4 The cleavage between workers and employers and the worker’s milieu................................49
3.2 CHANGES IN THE TRADITIONAL CLEAVAGES AND SOCIAL MILIEUS AFTER 1945.............................. 52
3.2.1 Developments in West Germany: Continuity and discontinuity ............................................53
3.2.2 Developments in the GDR: 40 years of dictatorship ..............................................................57

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4. SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN WEST GERMANY AND THE GDR................................ 61
4.1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHANGES ............................................................................................................63
4.1.1 Economic growth................................................................................................................... 63
4.1.2 Spread of education................................................................................................................ 65
4.1.3 The shift from the primary sector to the service sector.......................................................... 67
4.2 CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE ...............................................................................................68
4.3 C ..................................................................................................73 HANGES IN VALUE ORIENTATIONS
4.3.1 Is there a change from materialist to post-materialist value orientation?............................... 74
4.3.2 Changes in values of social integration.................................................................................. 77
4.3.2.1 Equality: Stable valuation of equality in the west, no research in the east........................ 77
4.3.2.2 Achievement: Decreased importance in the west, but not in the east................................ 78
4.3.2.3 Co-determination: Increased evaluation in the west, diversity in the east......................... 80
4.3.2.4 Acceptance: Devaluation in the west, forced secularisation in the east ............................ 81
4.3.2.5 The devaluation of acceptance in the GDR....................................................................... 84
4.3.2.6 The decreased acceptance of "voting as a value" .............................................................. 87
4.3.2.7 Organisational membership and social integration............................................................ 87
5. LIFESTYLE GROUPS IN GERMANY........................................................................................... 91
5.1 AN OVERVIEW OF DIFFERENT LIFESTYLE SURVEYS IN GERMANY......................................................91
5.2 LIFESTYLE GROUPS, CLEAVAGES AND PARTY PREFERENCE...............................................................95
5.2.1 Lifestyle groups in the west – a presentation of Gluchowski’s survey.................................. 96
5.2.2 Lifestyle groups in the east – a presentation of the findings by Becker, Becker
and Ruhland ......................................................................................................................... 103
5.2.3 The reflection of cleavages and party preference in eastern and western German
lifestyle groups..................................................................................................................... 108
6. HYPOTHESES, DATA AND STRATEGY OF DATA ANALYSIS ........................................... 115
6.1 HYPOTHESES ..................................................................................................................................115
6.2 P ......................................................................................119 RESENTATION OF DATA AND VARIABLES
6.2.1 Lifestyle groups.................................................................................................................... 120
6.2.2 Cleavages............................................................................................................................. 122
6.2.3 Social milieus....................................................................................................................... 129
6.3 STRATEGY OF DATA ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................130
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7. THE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MILIEUS IN GERMANY ..........................................................137
7.1 THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL MILIEUS IN THE WEST ......................................................................... 137
7.1.1 The analysis of latent variables using principal components analyses.................................137
7.1.2 The analysis of lifestyle groups using cluster analysis.........................................................142
7.1.3 The relationship between lifestyle groups, cleavages, organisational memberships,
interest representation and party preference.........................................................................148
7.1.3.1 The association between lifestyle groups and cleavages .................................................149
7.1.3.2 ation between lifestyland party preference.......................................162
7.1.4 Summary – the formation of social milieus in the west................................