Jews, Turks, and Other Strangers: Roots of Prejudice in Modern Germany

4. More Recent Evidence of Anti-Foreign Sentiment:The 1996 ALLBUS General Social Survey

4 More Recent Evidence of Anti-Foreign Sentiment The 1996 ALLBUS General Social Survey Introduction More recent and comprehensive data are available on attitudes toward foreigners in united Germany. A second survey of public opinion, the German Social Survey (ALLBUS), was conducted in 1996 by the Zentralarchiv für Empirische Sozialforschung und Zentrum für Umfragen , Methoden und Analysen (ZUMA).1 The survey poses a broader range of questions regarding attitudes toward both foreigners and Jews and provides a snapshot of public opinion some five years after the most serious violence following unification. After a description of eastern and western Germans concerning their attitudes toward Italians, Jews, ethnic Germans, asylum seekers, and Turks, I develop several multivariate models of anti-foreign sentiment. In addition to anti-foreign sentiment in general, the analysis attempts to explain which factors impact the desire to have a foreigner marry into one’s family, to have a foreigner as a neighbor, and to want equal rights for foreigners, the stringency of naturalization criteria, how much foreigners differ in lifestyle from Germans, and whether foreigners in Germany should receive the communal voting right. 79 80 More Recent Evidence of Anti-Foreign Sentiment Basic German Attitudes toward Foreign Groups: Eastern and Western Germans I divided the analysis between eastern and western Germans. A major reason for such treatment is that up until 1990 (and some would argue beyond), the two sectors of contemporary Germany were different nations with separate values and priorities. Table 4.1 confirms that a considerable difference in values exists in terms of what it means to be a German. Respondents were asked to select from a list of seven items entitled “the things that one can be proud of as a German.” A maximum of three selections was permitted. Western Germans tended to select pride in the Basic Law, social progress, and the economy as the top three choices whereas residents of the former GDR selected science, literature, and the achievements of the German athletes. The greater selection of the Basic Law and social programs on the part of the western Germans is not surprising. Those in the east have had little time to experience their benefits, and the Basic Law was developed in the west immediately after the war and has been a cornerstone of German democracy. What is surprising is that there is little difference between the east and the west in their feelings of pride toward the German economy. Again, it is possible that western Germans are less likely to evaluate the economy in terms of their own self-interest but, as much of the literature has pointed out, are more likely to look to the state of the new nation as a whole Table 4.1 Elements of German Pride: Western Germany and Eastern Germany Western Eastern Germany Germany Characteristics Mentioned Basic Law 52.9% 24.1% Bundestag 6.3% 2.9% Athletes 22.9% 54.0% Economy 44.3% 41.2% Literature 31.0% 53.0% Science 41.5% 57.7% Social Progress 48.7% 22.7% Source: ALLBUS General Social Survey, 1996 More Recent Evidence of Anti-Foreign Sentiment 81 (Alford and Legge 1984). Thus, they may not separate the eastern region from the western region in making their evaluation. Of course, economic feelings may affect attitude toward foreigners differentially in the two economies. Also surprising is the low level of pride in the Bundestag. Although there is a difference in the level of pride felt by westerners and residents of the former GDR, the regard in both instances is very low. It is obvious that both sides, especially the west, take more pride in the constitutional structure of the government (the Basic Law) than in the people operating it. A second reason for dividing the sample is that the difference in experience with foreigners is vast. Although those living in western Germany have experienced large numbers of immigrant workers in the nation since the early 1960s, the former GDR admitted very few. This is confirmed by the respondents themselves, and the gap in experience is presented in table 4.2. Table 4.2 reveals that there is wide variation in actual contact with foreigners between the eastern and the western residents. Nearly onefifth of the western German respondents report foreigners as close relatives or members of the immediate family whereas only 6 percent of residents of the former GDR have the same level of...