Authoritarianism and ethnocentrism in East and West Germany

does the system matter?

Aribert Heyder

Peter Schmidt

pp. 187-209

in: Richard Alba, Peter Schmidt, Martina Wasmer (eds), Germans or foreigners?, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

Since reunification in 1990, the link between acts of violence against foreigners, especially in east Germany, and the previously different political systems of former East and West Germany has come under scrutiny. At issue is whether the population in the east has on average a more ethnocentric orientation because of its different political socialization. Some observers have argued in addition that, as a consequence of the political structure of the former GDR, east Germans exhibit a higher level of authoritarian attitudes (e.g. Hopf et al., 1999; Lederer and Schmidt, 1995). This issue will be addressed here and will be refined by an empirical comparison between east and west Germany. The study will focus particularly on the relationship between authoritarian and ethnocentric attitudes, which will be analyzed in the ALLBUS data of 1996.