Poverty in Germany 1950-1990

1950-1990 年德国的贫困状况

• 批准号: 164847276
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Franz-Josef Brüggemeier
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Umweltgeschichte
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2009-12-31 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/164847276?language=en
• 关键词: Poverty; Germany; 1950; 1990

The history of social policy and the welfare state has been the subject of much attention in recent years. The issue of poverty in the period since 1950, however, has by and large been ignored by German researchers. Consequently, it is the aim of the current project ("Poverty in Germany 1950-1990", funded by the DFG since 2010) to tackle this issue from three different perspectives: an investigation of statistical instruments for measuring poverty, an analysis of national debates and a local history of poverty.All three sub-projects share a focus on approaches that have been neglected by prior research. They concentrate on sections of the debate which go beyond the well-known political and legal controversies on the national level: The first two sub-projects analyse discussions by academic experts and charity organisations. The third sub-project is devoted to concrete measures against poverty in three German cities.Additionally, special emphasis is placed on the inner German comparison. The project is trying to trace how common traditions were transformed by or continued in diverging political systems. For example, the first phase of research has shown that images of poverty in both German states have been remarkably persistent during the 1950s and 1960s. This is particularly true for the traditional classification of the poor based on their ability and willingness to work: It remained central for a long period of time and had a major effect on administrative strategies.For West Germany, however, the preliminary results of the project show that this consensus began to fall apart at the end of the 1960s. A new generation of experts and administrators radically rejected previous approaches to social policy. Similarly, developments in the East and in the West began to diverge: While the very term "poverty" had previously been shunned in both states, it slowly crept back into West German debates since the beginning of the 1970s. Similar developments did not appear in the GDR. To be sure, neither the ruling SED nor the administration or the academics could completely ignore social grievances in their own country. However, their measures and debates tended to concentrate on the working population. This not only corresponded well with socialist ideology but also aimed at increasing the legitimacy of the regime. Yet it also meant that marginal groups beyond the production process were neglected or even criminalized.It is obvious from all three sub-projects that the issue of poverty remained virulent throughout the entire period under investigation. Even in the case of East Germany which is notorious for its absence of public debates, it can be shown that bargaining processes concerning adequate reactions to social problems were commonplace, at least as far as the state is concerned. This hypothesis has already been verified in the case of the sub-projects 1 and 3.

近年来，社会政策和福利国家的历史一直是备受关注的主题。然而，1950年以来的贫困问题基本上被德国研究人员忽视了。因此，当前项目（“1950-1990 年德国的贫困”，自 2010 年起由 DFG 资助）的目的是从三个不同的角度解决这一问题：对衡量贫困的统计工具的调查、对全国辩论的分析以及当地的贫困史。所有三个子项目都关注被先前研究忽视的方法。他们专注于辩论中超出国家层面众所周知的政治和法律争议的部分：前两个子项目分析了学术专家和慈善组织的讨论。第三个子项目致力于德国三个城市消除贫困的具体措施。此外，特别强调德国内部的比较。该项目试图追踪共同的传统是如何被不同的政治制度所改变或延续的。例如，第一阶段的研究表明，德国两个州的贫困形象在 20 世纪 50 年代和 1960 年代一直持续存在。对于基于穷人工作能力和意愿的传统分类尤其如此：它在很长一段时间内仍然处于核心地位，并对行政策略产生了重大影响。然而，对于西德来说，该项目的初步结果表明这种共识在 20 世纪 60 年代末开始瓦解。新一代的专家和管理者从根本上拒绝了以前的社会政策方法。同样，东德和西德的发展也开始出现分歧：虽然“贫困”一词此前在这两个国家都被回避，但自 20 世纪 70 年代初以来，它又慢慢地重新回到西德的辩论中。东德并未出现类似的发展。平心而论，无论是执政的德国统一社会党还是政府或学术界都不能完全忽视本国的社会不满。然而，他们的措施和辩论往往集中在劳动人口上。这不仅符合社会主义意识形态，而且旨在增强政权的合法性。但这也意味着生产过程之外的边缘群体被忽视，甚至被定罪。 从所有三个子项目中可以明显看出，在整个调查期间，贫困问题仍然严重。即使在因缺乏公共辩论而臭名昭著的东德，关于对社会问题做出适当反应的讨价还价过程也是司空见惯的，至少就国家而言是这样。这一假设已在子项目 1 和 3 的案例中得到验证。