IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/wzbdsc/spv2018101.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Generations and protest in Eastern Germany: Between revolution and apathy

Author

Listed:
  • Joly, Philippe

Abstract

How is the protest behavior of citizens in new democracies influenced by their experience of the past? Certain theories of political socialization hold that cohorts reaching political maturity under dictatorship are subject to apathy. Yet, it remains unclear whether mobilization during the transition can counterbalance this effect. This article examines the protest behavior of citizens socialized in Eastern Germany, a region marked by two legacies: a legacy of autocracy and, following the 1989-90 revolution, a legacy of transitional mobilization. Using age-periodcohort models with data from the European Social Survey, the analysis assesses the evolution of gaps in protest across generations and time between East and West Germans. The results demonstrate that participation in demonstrations, petitions, and boycotts is lower for East Germans socialized under communism in comparison with West Germans from the same cohorts. This participation deficit remains stable over time and even increases for certain protest activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Joly, Philippe, 2018. "Generations and protest in Eastern Germany: Between revolution and apathy," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Democracy and Democratization SP V 2018-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbdsc:spv2018101
    Note: This is the preprint version of a paper published in Comparative Sociology. Reference: Joly, Philippe. “Generations and Protest in Eastern Germany: Between Revolution and Apathy.” Comparative Sociology 17, no. 6 (2018): 704–37. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341481.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/180824/1/1026899494.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roller, Edeltraud & Weßels, Bernhard, 1996. "Contexts of political protest in Western democracies: Political organization and modernity," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions and Social Change FS III 96-202, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    2. Sofie Marien & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2010. "Inequalities in Non-institutionalised Forms of Political Participation: A Multi-level Analysis of 25 countries," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58, pages 187-213, February.
    3. Kitschelt, Herbert P., 1986. "Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 57-85, January.
    4. Yang Yang & Kenneth C. Land, 2008. "Age–Period–Cohort Analysis of Repeated Cross-Section Surveys: Fixed or Random Effects?," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 36(3), pages 297-326, February.
    5. Sofie Marien & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2010. "Inequalities in Non‐institutionalised Forms of Political Participation: A Multi‐level Analysis of 25 countries," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(1), pages 187-213, February.
    6. Jennings, M. Kent, 1987. "Residues of a Movement: The Aging of the American Protest Generation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(2), pages 367-382, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mario Quaranta, 2016. "An Apathetic Generation? Cohorts’ Patterns of Political Participation in Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 793-812, February.
    2. Joly, Philippe, 2018. "Generations and Protest in Eastern Germany: Between Revolution and Apathy," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 17(6), pages 704-737.
    3. Newton, Kenneth & Giebler, Heiko, 2008. "Patterns of participation: Political and social participation in 22 nations," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Democracy and Democratization SP IV 2008-201, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Jennifer Oser, 2017. "Assessing How Participators Combine Acts in Their “Political Tool Kits”: A Person-Centered Measurement Approach for Analyzing Citizen Participation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 235-258, August.
    5. Schaub, Max, 2021. "Acute Financial Hardship and Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from the Sequence of Bank Working Days," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 115(4), pages 1258-1274.
    6. Johnson, Cathryn Evangeline, 2021. "Connecting Malian and Burkinabe women’s local experiences of livelihood security to how they participate in politics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    7. Piotr Koc, 2021. "Measuring Non-electoral Political Participation: Bi-factor Model as a Tool to Extract Dimensions," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 271-287, July.
    8. Rodon Casarramona, Toni & Guinjoan, Marc, 2018. "Mind the protest gap : the role of resources in the face of economic hardship," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87159, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Steven Gordon & Jarè Struwig & Benjamin Roberts & Ngqapheli Mchunu & Samela Mtyingizane & Thobeka Radebe, 2019. "What Drives Citizen Participation in Political Gatherings in Modern South Africa? A Quantitative Analysis of Self-Reported Behaviour," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(2), pages 791-808, January.
    10. Leone Walters & Carolyn Chisadza & Matthew Clance, 2021. "Slave Trades, Kinship Structures and Women Political Participation in Africa," Working Papers 202156, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    11. Ramos Javier & Padilla Javier & Chueca Enrique, 2019. "Abstentionism, Voting Advice Applications and Voting Activation," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 55-85, June.
    12. Vanda Carreira & João Reis Machado & Lia Vasconcelos, 2016. "Engaging Citizen Participation—A Result of Trusting Governmental Institutions and Politicians in the Portuguese Democracy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-11, August.
    13. Godfred Bonnah Nkansah, 2022. "Youth Cohort Size, Structural Socioeconomic Conditions, and Youth Protest Behavior in Democratic Societies (1995–2014)," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    14. Reeves, Aaron & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2019. "Can inequalities in political participation explain health inequalities?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 234(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Edgar Alva & María Urcia & Vanina Vivas, 2023. "Civic Engagement of Future Citizens: An Insight from Peruvian Students’ Attitudes towards Relevant Societal Issues as Predictors of Expected Conventional Political Participation," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 2187-2221, October.
    16. Jung In Jo, 2016. "Weapons of the dissatisfied? Perceptions of socioeconomic inequality, redistributive preference, and political protest: Evidence from South Korea," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 285-300, December.
    17. Yahya Shadi & Mohammad Hassan Lotfi & Saharnaz Nedjat & Mostafa Amini Rarani & Esmaeil Khedmati Morasae, 2018. "Explaining Unequal Levels of Social Capital in Tehran," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 243-265, November.
    18. Raffaele Calabretta, 2011. "Doparies," SAGE Open, , vol. 1(3), pages 21582440114, October.
    19. James Hart & Matt Henn, 2017. "Neoliberalism and the Unfolding Patterns of Young People’s Political Engagement and Political Participation in Contemporary Britain," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Lorenzo Cicatiello & Salvatore Ercolano & Giuseppe Gaeta, 2015. "Income distribution and political participation: a multilevel analysis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(2), pages 447-479, May.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbdsc:spv2018101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wzbbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.