Wächst jetzt wieder zusammen, was zusammengehört? Die Entwicklung der identifikativen Akkulturation in der ostdeutschen Bevölkerung von 1991 bis 2016

In this article, the development of social integration in terms of the identifying acculturation of former East Germans is analyzed for the period after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and abrupt system change. Using Berry’s acculturation approach, the focus is on period- and generation-specific changes in acculturation modes. Using data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) for the years 1991, 2000, 2008, and 2016, as well as additional data of another study for the years 1992 and 1993, it can be shown that social identity related to the GDR among its former citizens is decreasing, and they are increasingly identifying with the unified Germany. As a significant result, strategies of inclusion (assimilation and multiple integration) have increased in the former East German population across periods, while exclusionary modes of identifying acculturation, such as separation and marginalization, are becoming less important. The cohort sequence shows that the younger birth cohorts prefer inclusion (assimilation and marginalization) more than the older cohorts do. Individual gains and satisfaction with the social order promote inclusion, as suggested by Berry, while status fears and dissatisfaction tend to force exclusion. Overall, the transfer of the acculturation approach to the former East German population in the transformation process has been proven theoretically and empirically.