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Socialist and post-socialist functional elites in East Germany
Sozialistische und postsozialistische Eliten in Ostdeutschland
[journal article]
Abstract "This paper provides a brief overview of elite change and continuity in East Germany as a post-socialist society. To do so, at first, some peculiarities of the former cadre system and elites in socialist East Germany, i.e. the late German Democratic Republic, are addressed with regard to social stru... view more
"This paper provides a brief overview of elite change and continuity in East Germany as a post-socialist society. To do so, at first, some peculiarities of the former cadre system and elites in socialist East Germany, i.e. the late German Democratic Republic, are addressed with regard to social structure development and the arrangement of generations. Selected empirical evidence is based on cross-sectoral, longitudinal and cohort analyses and the inspection of prosopographic elite data compiled until the end of the 1980s which deconstruct the myth of a levelled egalitarian socialist society. In the second part of the paper, elite change and continuity after the political change of 1989/90 is discussed in the context of the transformation of institutions. Inspired by Bourdieu's analytic paradigm, one central thesis on the career survivals, take-offs, and breakdowns of East German elites is the continued validity and efficacy of social and cultural capital obtained before the fall of the wall, most of all formal qualification. Dimension of vertical social inequality under socialist rule, such as gender and class background, remain to be decisive until today." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
New Federal States; political elite; post-socialist country; transformation; reunification; continuity; political change; cohort analysis; career; social capital; cultural capital; social structure; power; elite; social integration; institutional change; biography; SOEP; social inequality; path dependence; Federal Republic of Germany
Classification
Social History, Historical Social Research
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Method
empirical; quantitative empirical; historical; theory application
Document language
English
Publication Year
2012
Page/Pages
p. 123-138
Journal
Historical Social Research, 37 (2012) 2
Issue topic
Politische und funktionale Eliten in postsozialistischer Transformation: Mittel- und Osteuropa seit 1989/90 / Political and functional elites in Post-Socialist transformation: Central and East Europe since 1989/90
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.37.2012.2.123-138
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed