Synthesizes the theoretical implications of the studies presented in this issue on social repercussions of a unified Germany, highlighting the effects of economic and political change on women, families, and youth, and their relevance for cultural-historical theories of human development. (JW)

Stresses that educational politics can only be understood by researching social science and journalistic accounts in addition to official documents of educational policy, such as legal documents, legislative debates, and official pronouncements. Presents a case study of the University of Duisburg, West Germany, as an example of an institution of…

Interviewed 1,708 East and West German adolescents to study similarities and differences in their psychosocial transitions. Found that females generally underwent transitions earlier than males. East German youths conceived of the transition to work and displayed autonomy earlier than West German youth, but the overall timetable of transitions…

Illustrates the role of the family in linking sociopolitical changes to adolescent development by outlining some differences in structures of families of East and West Germany. Synthesizes survey data on this topic. Areas discussed include family formation, unmarried couples and parents, maternal employment, public child care, divorce and…

This document examines the definition of democracy and the political attitudes and values of the West German public and implications of these attitudes for future German politics and German-U.S. relations. The stability of postwar democracy in West Germany, it is agreed, is related to changes in the characteristics of the political culture over…

Reports on a review of brochures and catalogs from postsecondary institutions in the former East and West Germany. Finds that East German institutions emphasized regional-historical links, client orientation, and stylized over orientation; that West German institutions emphasize pluralism, public responsibility, and a "variety/fun"…

Directed toward the question of how parents and 15-year-old adolescents cope with the demands of social change occurring during unification in Germany, the comparative investigation of 40 families each in East and West Germany examines macro-social conditions of family relationships and rightist attitudes among German adolescents and adults. The…

Reports on a staff development project for in-service teachers from former East German states. Describes the project's background, previous in-service teacher education, and the project's organization. Concludes that economic difficulties and the rise of neo-Nazism makes it imperative for German teachers to develop democratic values. (CFR)

Since the collapse of state socialism in East Germany in 1989, political discourse among citizens has changed dramatically. There is now talk of democracy, tolerance, the individual, and democratic socialism. This paper examines the impact of this new discourse upon citizenship education in what was formerly East Germany specifically focusing on…

To understand developments in West Germany since World War II, one must consider numerous social, political, economic, military, and educational variables. Important among these are the decline in output orientation, increase in interpersonal political involvement, decline in value placed on politics, stress on democratic decision making,…