TY - JOUR
AU1 - Montada, Leo
AB - Large redistributions between West and East will be necessary within the unified Germany for a long time. The perceived justice of these redistributions is discussed, applying theory and evidence from social justice research and research on prosocial behavior. Views about just distributions and entitlements vary according to the preferred principles of distributions and according to attributions of responsibility for existing inequalities. It is, hypothesized that acceptance of redistributions in West Germany depends on whether the East is seen as having been unjustly disadvantaged after World War II when it was assigned to the influence sphere of the Soviet Union. This fact can be considered in analogy to an exploitation of the East by the West. On the other hand, the economic, problems in the East may also be considered self-inflicted by the former communist regime. A key question is what the attitudes of the population in the former GDR had been toward the communist regime. If the population is considered the victim of the regime, it is entitled to get support; if it is considered to have been sympathetic toward the regime, this is not the case. Acceptance of redistributions depends not only on their justice but also on their efficiency. The relative weight of justice and efficiency depends on the reasons given for the support. If support means repaying debts that were accumulated during the preceding period of being undeservedly privileged in the West, justice will remain the dominant criterion. If support is justified by actual neediness of the East, it will only be granted as help to self-help. Claims for discontinuity of support are expected if it will not be efficient in a near future. Some dangers concerning the integration of the two populations are outlined by listing some potential conditions for a growing distance and reciprocal discrimination up to a reciprocal ethnification between the Eastern and the Western populations.
TI - Applying social psychology: The case of redistributions in unified Germany
JF - Social Justice Research
DO - 10.1007/bf02334827
DA - 1995-03-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/applying-social-psychology-the-case-of-redistributions-in-unified-0wQAMRPIRB
SP - 73
EP - 90
VL - 8
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -