Social distance and physical proximity

day-to-day attitudes and experiences of foreigners and Germans living in the same residential areas

Ferdinand Böltken

pp. 233-254

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

Abstract

This chapter presents the findings of an investigation into the day-to-day neighborhood life of Germans and foreigners and compares these experiences over a substantial period of time. It begins with the perceptions of residential life held by Germans in the west and the east and examines the extent to which they are shaped by daily experience with foreigners. Similar perceptions by foreigners in the western part of Germany are also presented. These analyses are primarily based on two series of surveys, in which the German Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung, or BBR) participated: The "Social Science Bus' for the German population and the multitopic survey "Foreigners in Germany" of the MARPLAN Institute.¹ These surveys have been supplemented by the results of ALLBUS 1996, which includes measures of social distance. The former West Germany (including west Berlin) and the former East Germany (including east Berlin) will be analyzed separately because the two parts of the country are quite distinct with regard to the experiences of Germans and foreigners living together.