The Bertelsmann Stiftung's Social Cohesion Radar examines the areas of social relations, connectedness and focus on the common good, which are based on 31 indicators grouped into 9 dimensions. In seven dimensions, the eastern states place last behind their western peers. That hardly means, however, that communities in the east are drifting apart, since social cohesion levels there have risen since reunification, although at a slower pace than in the west.
The study's authors – a team of social scientists from Jacobs University in Bremen – found a number of parallels between Germany's eastern states and other former socialist countries. The relatively low levels of trust that people in eastern Germany have towards their neighbors is typical of societies that were previously subjected to a significant degree of state control. "Trust in one's fellow citizens is just as valuable as it is fragile. Trust can quickly be destroyed, and rebuilding it takes both time and patience," says Liz Mohn, vice-chair of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board.
Yet when it comes to trust in social institutions such as the police and legal system, Germany's eastern states have demonstrated a considerable increase over the past 10 years.
Compared to their counterparts in the west, more people in the east tend to feel that Germany's wealth is unfairly distributed. Consequently, more easterners feel the government should take steps to reduce income disparity. This is also reflected in the relatively high levels of dissatisfaction people in eastern Germany express concerning their own standard of living. Since 1990, for example, more than 50 percent of those living in western Germany have repeatedly affirmed that their own living standard is a just reflection of overall levels of prosperity, while the share of those in the country's east expressing the same opinion has fallen drastically from peak levels in the intervening years. The percentage of people in two states, Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, who feel this way is now almost as low as it was directly after reunification, with only one person in five viewing their living standard as just. "In many eastern regions, the optimism that people experienced in past years now seems to have been replaced by a more sober assessment," says Kai Unzicker, social development specialist at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
People in Germany are ambivalent about accepting diversity. Tolerance of homosexuality, for example, has increased in almost all of Germany's states. Even in Bavaria, the least tolerant of the western states in this area, a relatively high number of people agree with the idea that gays and lesbians should be able to lead their lives as they see fit. Acceptance of homosexual lifestyles has increased in the eastern states as well, but remains below the national average, with the exception of Thuringia.
Many Germans remain highly skeptical of immigration. And while they are increasingly open to non-Germans becoming involved in the sociopolitical sphere, they are less and less likely to approve of foreigners maintaining their traditional way of life in Germany. This decreasing acceptance of cultural diversity seems unfounded, since the study also shows that the German states with the highest percentages of non-Germans also exhibit the greatest levels of social cohesion.
"Apparently many Germans still perceive immigration as a threat," says Mohn. "We should view diversity as an opportunity instead."
Along with an analysis of which factors determine the degree of cohesion within a community, the study also provides explanations of why Germany's eastern states have not been successful in closing the gap separating them from their western counterparts. "A higher gross domestic product, a lower risk of poverty, a greater degree of urbanization and a younger population – the presence of those factors ensures a higher level of social cohesion in any given state," Unzicker says. With that, the study confirms that economic power and prosperity can ensure a community holds together. That was also one of the findings of the Social Cohesion Radar study released last year, which examined cohesiveness in more than 30 countries. The intra-German comparison now shows that, in addition, urban environments and positive demographic developments can help a society cohere.
About the Social Cohesion Radar
The Social Cohesion Radar is an index created for the Bertelsmann Stiftung by a team of researchers under the direction of Prof. Klaus Boehnke and Prof. Jan Delhey at Jacobs University in Bremen. In July 2013, an international comparative study showed that the Scandinavian countries and the English-speaking nations traditionally home to immigrant populations have especially high levels of social cohesion. Of the 34 nations studied, Germany was one of the mid-tier countries, with clear shortcomings in the area of acceptance of diversity. For the current study, which compares conditions in Germany's 16 states, a number of surveys and public statistics were combined and evaluated as part of a secondary analysis. Both studies assess social cohesion using 31 individual indicators grouped into nine dimensions, which in turn are grouped into the three overall areas of social relations, connectedness and focus on the common good.