Germany after Reunification. Society – Multiculturalism – Religions.
We would like to present a new publication of the Institute for Western Affairs’ Publishing House entitled “Niemcy po zjednoczeniu. Społeczeństwo – wielokulturowość – religie” (Germany after Reunification. Society – Multiculturalism – Religions) which has been written by Joanna Dobrowolska-Polak, Natalia Jackowska, Michał Nowosielski and Marcin Tujdowski.
The book is an attempt to fill the gap in Polish literature of the subject by providing a perceptive description of the changes and functioning of selected aspects of the social and institutional spheres of contemporary Federal Republic of Germany. The following issues are described: social structure, demography, multiculturalism and integration of migrants in the united Germany as well as religions and religiousness.
The problem of social structure is shown from two perspectives: dynamic and comparative. In the case of the former the aim is to trace the changes that occurred in various aspects of Germany’s social structure from the 19th century up to now. Special attention is drawn to changes that have taken place since the reunification. The focus of the description is on social transformations connected with the transition from a traditional rural society first to an industrial and then to the service society, followed by the currently ongoing deconstruction of the latter. A dynamic analysis is also applied to changes occurring in a shorter scale and linked to the rise and subsequent gradual dismantling of “social market economy”.
The united Germany is also a scene of significant demographic transformations. Some of them are specific to the FRG whereas others are a local reflection of processes known throughout Europe. The second chapter brings a detailed analysis of five major problems which constitute the chief challenges that the German society already faces or will soon have to face. These are: shrinking of the population, ethic-cultural diversity of the society, ageing of the population, deurbanization of East Germany and migration. Presentation of the history of immigration to Germany is complemented by a discussion of the changes in German law and policy – from the “policy toward foreigners” through “migration policy” and “immigration policy”. The stream of migrants that has incessantly flown into Germany since the 1950s led in 2010 to a situation when every fifth resident of Germany was of migrant descent and nearly every tenth a foreigner. Initially, however, in spite of an active policy of attracting new Gastarbeiters the German government did not develop an effective immigration policy. On the contrary, for a long time in the FRG there persisted a belief that Germany was not an immigration country and therefore did not need a special policy addressing immigrants and their integration with the German society. This attitude changed only in the 1990s when Germans began to notice with concern the effects of their negligence manifested for instance by the emergence of the so called parallel societies (Parallelgesellschaften) created mostly by immigrants from outside the Judeo-Christian cultural sphere, mainly Muslims. This required the implementation of new solutions regarding migration, migrants and their integration with the German society.
The last chapter, devoted to religion and religiousness, also draws attention to the fact that the functioning of religious institutions is socially conditioned both by phenomena commonly present in almost all contemporary European countries (among others secularization, changes in the social position of Churches, problems with securing the material basis of activity, scandals with far reaching repercussions that weaken the authority of the institution) as well as specifically German phenomena – predominantly those connected with migration processes: the development and stabilization of Muslim religious communities, the numerical growth and differentiation of the Jewish community and the expansion of Christian communities of the Eastern rites.
In the series: Republika Federalna Niemiec 20 lat po zjednoczeniu. Polityka – gospodarka społeczeństwo (The Federal Republic of Germany Twenty Years after Reunification. Policy -Economy- Society) the following publications have been published so far:
Volume 0: Moje Niemcy - moi Niemcy. Odpominania polskie (My Germany - my Germans. Polish Reverie about the Past), edited by Hubert Orłowski, Poznań 2009;
Volume 1: Polityka zagraniczna zjednoczonych Niemiec (The Foreign Policy of United Germany) by Jadwiga Kiwerska, Bogdan Koszel, Maria Tomczak, Stanisław Żerko, Poznań 2011;
Volume 2: Gospodarka Niemiecka 20 lat po zjednoczeniu (German Economy Twenty Years after Reunification), edited by Tomasz Budnikowski, Poznań 2011;
Volume 3: Stosunki gospodarcze między Polską a Niemcami 20 lat po zjednoczeniu (Economic Relations between Poland and Germany Twenty Years after Reunification), edited by Piotr Kalka, Poznań 2012;
Volume 4: Niemiecka polityka wobec Polski 1990-2010 (German Policy toward Poland 1990 – 2010), by Bogdan Koszel, Krzysztof Malinowski, Zbigniew Mazur, Poznań 2012;
Volume 5: Kultura zjednoczonych Niemiec. Wybrane problemy (The Culture of United Germany) by Zbigniew Mazur, Hubert Orłowski, Maria Wagińska-Mazur, Poznań 2013;
Volume 6: Niemcy po zjednoczeniu. Społeczeństwo - wielokulturowość - religie (Germany after reunification. Society – Multiculturalism – Religions) by Joanna Dobrowolska-Polak, Natalia Jackowska, Michał Nowosielski, Marcin Tujdowski, Poznań 2013;
More information about publication here.
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