Poverty in Germany 1950-1990

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Franz-Josef Brüggemeier
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 164847276

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.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Peter Kramper