Richard Alba, Peter Schmidt, Martina Wasmer, eds.. Germans or Foreigners? Attitudes Toward Ethnic Minorities in Post-Reunifcation Germany. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. x + 308 pp. $59.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-4039-6378-9.
Reviewed by Daniel Levy
Published on H-German (March, 2005)
This book is about attitudes of Germans to‐ The book is well organized and the perceptive ward ethnic minorities in post-reunifcation Ger‐ introduction by the editors presents the political, many. Based on the study of survey materials, the cultural, and economic background against which volume ofers detailed analysis and important in‐ majority-minority relations unfold. Germany, like sights into various facets of xenophobia, ethno‐ other countries in Europe, they suggest, "needs centrism, and the continuous obstacles migrants steady immigration to maintain economic face in their quest for full integration. Most of the strength and support a growing population past articles are based on the analysis of the 1996 "All‐ the age of work, but it has not yet created the poli‐ gemeine Bevoelkerungsumfrage der Sozialwis‐ cies and cultural climate that would generate reg‐ senschaften" (General Population Survey of the ular streams of economic immigrants" (p. 4). Con‐ Social Sciences), commonly referred to as ALL‐ trary to some of the rhetoric populist right-wing BUS. Comparable to the "General Social Survey" in and some mainstream parties across Europe are the United States, ALLBUS consists of a series of voicing about alleged clashes of civilization and regularly repeated bi-annual surveys. It frequent‐ identity politics geared toward self-segregation ly contains a special topics module. In 1996, pri‐ rather than inclusion, the editors (and, for that marily in response to widely publicized physical matter, the fndings presented in this volume) attacks against foreigners during the early 1990s, leave little room for doubt that the lack of integra‐ a section about attitudes toward immigrants and tion (primarily remains) a function of ethno-cen‐ ethnic minorities was added. Some of the articles tric cultural assumptions in the host society and complement their analysis with additional data persistent xenophobia among the native majority sets--most notably the Eurobarometer, a survey population. that collects data on a European scale, underscor‐ Preceding the diferent presentations of the ing the value of comparative data that allows for ALLBUS fndings are two chapters outlining the inferences outside the national container. demographic and socio-economic background (of H-Net Reviews immigrants in Germany). Rainer Muenz and Ralf disproportionately high number of self-employed Ulrich provide a comprehensive picture of the among migrants. "Ethnic and Demographic Structure of Foreigners The remaining chapters focus their attention and Immigrants." Their measurements about the on Germans' attitudes toward foreigners, mi‐ size of Germany's immigrant population are a grants, and diversity in general. They feature an welcome corrective to published fgures by the impressive range of explanations, involving a host state. They include ethnic German re-settlers from of structural and biographic variables. Socio-eco‐ Central and Eastern Europe. Since ofcial data nomic measurements as well as generational, ed‐ about migrants are based on nationality, and giv‐ ucational, and geographical factors explain the en that ethnic Germans are entitled to German cit‐ broad specter of xenophobia. Aribert Heyder and izenship upon arrival, they are usually not count‐ Peter Schmidt explore links between authoritari‐ ed as immigrants. Conversely, until recently long- anism and ethnocentrism in discussing the extent time non-national residents (such as second- and to which diferent forms of political socialization third-generation Turks born in Germany) fre‐ in the former West and East Germany have afect‐ quently remained "foreign" de jure. Although this ed xenophobic attitudes. In both cases, authoritar‐ state of afairs is gradually changing due to new ianism and ethnocentrism are highly correlated. citizenship regulations, the rate of naturalization The signifcance of spatio-cultural diferences also has remained relatively low. informs the chapter by Ferdinand Boeltken, who As Stefan Bender and Wolfgang Seifert point examines the impact of social distance and physi‐ out, problematic integration should be attributed cal proximity on attitudinal dispositions. He to structural features of the labor market and con‐ shows that actual contact reduces the likelihood comitant socio-economic disadvantages that char‐ of ethnocentric orientations. Applying spatial con‐ acterize the status of immigrant groups. Massive siderations to a regional unit of analysis, Juergen labor migration of so-called Gastarbeiter (a term H. P. Hofmeyer-Zlotnik points to a rural-urban di‐ that reveals the ideological preference of the host vide with signifcantly lesser degrees of ethnocen‐ society envisioning a temporary rather than a trism among urbanites. permanent stay for this population) during the Xenophobia and (to a much lesser degree) 1960s and 1970s resulted in the ethnic segmenta‐ racism usually receive widespread attention tion of the German labor market. Bender and around electoral successes of the far right in Eu‐ Seifert show that foreigners have lower levels of rope, especially Germany. While commendable, education, are placed at the bottom of the occupa‐ this episodic approach is misleading, since it fre‐ tional hierarchy, and are thus more susceptible to quently implies comparisons to interwar fascism unemployment. Overall, these factors have limit‐ or Nazism. The Weimar Republic operates as a ed their occupational mobility rates. This disad‐ dual signifer for memories of a functioning vantage is institutionally reinforced through Ger‐ democratic state and the perils of a dysfunctional many's educational system, which features a dual democracy. By setting such a high threshold, the track of educational and vocational trajectories. episodic comparison undermines good intentions The latter, especially in the context of an increas‐ to reign in racist outburst. The benign electoral ingly credential society, in efect, reinforces a high success of far-right parties and the widespread of‐ rate of class reproduction. As a result, migrants fcial condemnation by mainstream politicians re‐ are more vulnerable than natives to structural ad‐ inforces a sense that the margins (and by associa‐ justments, and their integration remains def‐ tion xenophobia) are under a tight grip of political cient. Such structural factors also help explain the and state control. This volume largely clarifes
2 H-Net Reviews that the two are not necessarily co-extensive. approaches related to diferent experiences in the State-sanctioned opposition to right-wing extrem‐ West and the East. While they point to a confu‐ ism and the widespread persistence of anti-for‐ ence of antisemites among the older (Nazi) gener‐ eigner sentiments are not mutually exclusive. Per‐ ation and broad support among the less-educated, sistent discrepancies between private and ofcial their main fnding is prescient in that it stresses attitudes are hardly limited to the topic of xeno‐ the increasing signifcance of antisemitism as an phobia. The public-private discrepancy is also ideological complex, rather than merely a social echoed in how the National Socialist past is re‐ refex. As such, it resonates with a post-9/11 devel‐ membered. Despite ongoing state-sponsored edu‐ opment that seems to fortify afnities between cational and political eforts informed by collec‐ anti-Americanism and antisemitism.[2] The link tive responsibility, atonement, and restitution, of antisemitism and anti-Zionism to anti-capital‐ memories generated in non-ofcial and private ism and anti-Americanism existed in both parts of contexts frequently remain resistant to the ofcial Germany. In the GDR it was mostly a state-spon‐ moral pedagogy. The album of family memories sored afair, whereas in the FRG it was primarily often involves a denial of actual participation in cultivated at the grassroots level on the fringes of the Nazi past.[1] Greater awareness of this situa‐ the left and the right. These developments sup‐ tion is surfacing in recent controversies about the port the argument that a deliberate ideological role of German victimhood, mostly in conjunction choice rather than clear-cut social determinants with the sixtieth anniversary of Allied frebomb‐ help explain the persistence of antisemitism in ings of Dresden and other German cities. unifed Germany. Ofcial sanctions say little about To be sure, a relationship between ethnocen‐ the deeper cultural and social sources of anti-for‐ trism, xenophobia, and party preference exists, as eigner sentiments. One of the many merits of this Ulrich Rosar shows in his chapter, "Ethnocentrism volume then is that it neither succumbs to the and Support for Extreme-Right Parties." But even aforementioned episodic approach, nor does it, here, when exploring the entire ALLBUS series for the most part, focus its empirical attention on and thus placing ethnocentrism in historical per‐ the fringes. It thus avoids the misleading conclu‐ spective, Rosar suggests that the link between eth‐ sion that if xenophobia and racism remain politi‐ nocentrism and support for parties on the ex‐ cally inconsequential, their cultural and social im‐ treme Right is somewhat tenuous. Werner pact cannot be lasting either. Bergmann and Rainer Erb's fndings about,"Anti- Accordingly, most of the authors take a broad‐ Semitism in the Late 1990s," raise doubts about er view on these issues by situating existing xeno‐ socio-economic determinants of xenophobic dis‐ phobic sentiments in the overall framework of positions. Attitudes towards Jews have long majority-minority relations and related aspects of served as an emblematic and often implicit mea‐ migrant integration. By emphasizing that the inte‐ sure of how tolerant Germans are of the "other," gration of migrants is a two-way street, most of despite the fact that the number of Jews consti‐ the authors avoid the pitfalls that mar studies tutes a negligible minority of no more than which tend to focus on migrants' lack of assimila‐ 100,000. Bergmann and Erb further disentangle tion as a function of their reluctance (or the al‐ the xenophobia-ethnocentrism-antisemitism leged incompatibility of their "cultural values") to nexus by focusing their attention on a historical integrate themselves. Despite extensive evidence dimension (changing explanations of anti‐ to the contrary, convictions about the exclusivist semitism across time), a geographic one (distin‐ motivations of migrants remains a constant trope guishing between antisemitic sentiments in West of anti-immigrant rhetoric. The balance between and East Germany) and possible path-dependent exclusion and the self-fulflling prophecy of a
3 H-Net Reviews quasi-civilizational discourse is becoming a stable derstanding of what constitutes the cultural and feature of European societies. Ultimately, the re‐ social mainstream. In both, the assumption is jectionist rhetoric that characterizes many right- widespread that the incorporation is one-sided, wing populist European parties--which are in‐ requiring the adoption by immigrants and their creasingly capturing the imagination of the cen‐ children of the language and predetermined cul‐ ter--reveals a somewhat schizophrenic fear: on ture of the native society; little scope is allowed the one hand, these immigrants supposedly can‐ for contributions by the languages and culture not assimilate (due to their inherent diferences); brought by the immigrants themselves" (pp. 4-5). on the other hand, ethno-centric views are sus‐ The persistence of this "cultural bias," as it tained precisely by the "threat" of successful inte‐ were, is confrmed by most of the other articles, gration, perceived here as a source of pollution of which focus their attention on the intensity and the majority culture. In North America this argu‐ extensity of ethnocentrism and xenophobia. ment, even when popular, is largely made from a Turks are frequently singled out, underscoring defensive standpoint. In most European coun‐ the fact that immigrants are not treated as a ho‐ tries, and certainly in Germany with its strong mogeneous group. Nor does their legal status ethno-cultural tradition, the argument relies on seem to matter much. One of the central fndings anachronistic perceptions of homogeneous na‐ then relates to how the foundations for xenopho‐ tionhood. The frequent rejection of multicultural‐ bia itself are changing in a context where culture ism in multicultural societies thus persists. is becoming a prominent feature of group antago‐ It is hardly surprising that the extent to which nism. This shift from racial prejudice to cultural a majority culture discriminates against ethnic antagonism is echoed in many of the chapters. minorities is likely to correspond with disengage‐ Comparing cross-country data from the Euro‐ ment and ethnic self-segregration on part of the barometer, Michael Terwey concludes that "com‐ minority group. This mutually reinforcing dynam‐ pared to other nations in the EU, Germany shows ic, rather than presumably primordial qualities of a high proportion of population who are not wel‐ either group, explains the difculties non-native coming toward immigrants and who do not ex‐ permanent residents face in their attempts to in‐ pect minority groups to enrich the country's cul‐ tegrate. This difculty is the subject of the chapter ture" (p. 91). Adaptation to the life-styles of the by Stefen Kuehnel and Juergen Leibold, "The Oth‐ majority culture has assumed a central role. This ers and We: Relationship Between Germans and shift toward culture is also expressed in the fnd‐ Non-Germans from the Point of View of Foreign‐ ings of Martina Wasmer and Achim Koch, who ex‐ ers Living in Germany." Recognizing the impor‐ amine attitudes toward civil rights for Non-Ger‐ tance of the limited willingness of the host society mans. Here too, discrimination does not apply to welcome immigrants, they ofer a glimpse into across the board, but is reserved for those per‐ how Germany's extensive population of perma‐ ceived as most "foreign." Again, this sentiment has nent resident aliens perceives its host society. little to do with the legal status of foreigners, but Based on the fact that Turks, as the largest immi‐ rather with the extent to which they are per‐ grant minority, are most likely to sufer from ceived as strangers unable to conduct a "German some discrimination, they show that long-time life-style." Turkish residents have more negative views of It is not entirely clear what exactly that life- how they are perceived by Germans. As Alba and style consists of other than command over the his fellow editors point out in the introduction, German language. And it is precisely the vague‐ the main problem refers to "the difculties of in‐ ness of these self-attributed cultural traits that corporation in nations where there is a settled un‐
4 H-Net Reviews help explain their widespread attractiveness as an Their chapter stands out insofar as it not only rec‐ exclusionary and ultimately discriminatory mech‐ ognizes the changing conditions for studying anism that sustains xenophobic attitudes. One xenophobia and other prejudices, but also histori‐ striking example for this dynamic has been the cizes the measurements themselves: "[p]rejudice so-called Leitkultur debate. Its advocates (mostly evolves in its forms, and so must the instruments on the right) have focused public attention to the that measure it." (p. 119). Furthermore, Alba and putative incompatibilities of diferent cultures. It Johnson explicitly refer to a comparative frame‐ has, by now, become a veiled critique (no pun in‐ work, drawing on changing patterns of prejudice tended) of Islam and the Turkish minority. and corresponding changes in measurement in Leitkultur is primarily an attempt to reproduce a comparable surveys in the United States. monocultural model of Germanness in the context The impressive analysis of their chapter re‐ of an increasingly multicultural society that self- minds the reader of a missing theme in this vol‐ consciously celebrates a politics of cultural (and ume: a more explicit theoretical orientation based religious) identity. Ironically, it is precisely the re‐ on a systematic comparison to other cases (both unifcation of Germany and with it the ongoing European and North American). Given that the animosity between West and East Germans that volume revolves around issues of integration, it is prevents any application of a presumed Leitkul‐ striking that the authors make practically no ref‐ tur to a homogeneous conception of nationhood. erence to theories of assimilation (the term is not Further compounding the growing insignif‐ even listed in the index). This lack is the more sur‐ cance of ethnic conceptions are fndings in the prising, given that one of the editors, Richard 1996 ALLBUS that indicate a growing rejection of Alba, is among the leading immigration scholars ethnic German Spaetaussiedler (mostly from the whose recent work on assimilation, both theoreti‐ former Soviet Union) who constitute the largest cal and empirical, is seminal for our understand‐ group of re-settlers since the mid 1990s. Most Ger‐ ing of the conditions necessary for integration.[4] mans perceive Aussiedler as immigrants rather One possible reason for this regrettable omis‐ than as bearers of a particular sense of German‐ sion may be related to the fact that the book re‐ ness. A large majority of Germans now favor a volves around a data set by now almost a decade more restrictive approach regarding their immi‐ old. Originally published in German in the year gration rights. This ambivalence toward ethnic 2000, the book omits a number of themes that Germans further undermines a meaningful refer‐ have since emerged as crucial factors in debates ence to an organic vocabulary.[3] Overall, rejec‐ about xenophobia in general, and anti-foreigner tion of "others" is not predicated on their citizen‐ attitudes in Germany in particular. While the sin‐ ship status but on how Germans perceive of them gle chapters are, of course, constrained by the in life-style similarities. Similarities and difer‐ passage of time, adding a conclusion to the Eng‐ ence, based on common experiences in the Feder‐ lish edition could have remedied some of these al Republic rather than ethnocultural founda‐ limitations. The book would have benefted from tions, shape Germans' perceptions of other such an updated concluding chapter by situating groups. its impressive fndings in the emerging context of Together these fndings point to the persis‐ globalization, European Islamophobia and cultur‐ tence of xenophobia, albeit in a new guise. Chang‐ al identity politics. ing foundations of prejudice and necessary Xenophobia emerges as a multifaceted phe‐ methodological adjustments are the subject of nomenon that can be sustained by diferent forms Richard Alba and Michelle Johnson's contribution. of rhetoric. As the various fndings in this volume
5 H-Net Reviews demonstrate, ethnocentric components or racial nic German Immigrants," in Challenging Ethnic assumptions are no longer the only features of ex‐ Citizenship: German and Israeli Perspectives on clusion. Rejection of the "other" includes Jean Immigration, eds. Daniel Levy and Yfaat Weiss Marie Le Pen's inverted multicultural polemic (New York: Berghahn Books, 2002), pp. 221-238. about the French "right to diference" as well as [4]. Richard Alba and Victor Nee, Remaking new forms of populist anti-Muslim rhetoric by the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Con‐ Pim Fortuyn or Theo van Gogh who reject difer‐ temporary Immigration (Cambridge: Harvard ence in the name of a universalism predicated on University Press, 2003). European Enlightenment values. Van Gogh's as‐ sassination as well as the cycle of violence and retribution it provoked in the Netherlands are symptomatic of a Europe grappling with cultural diference, a continuous sense of migratory threats from the outside and the limits of toler‐ ance. It is a Europe where the notion of "fortress" is no longer merely a metaphor, but increasingly refective of intolerant public opinion and restric‐ tive EU policies. Germans or Foreigners? provides important insights into the social, economic, and cultural foundations that help explain the political salience of "diference." The broad range of sub‐ jects and the multivariate approach make this vol‐ ume an indispensable resource for everyone in‐ terested in majority-minority relations in contem‐ porary Germany and Europe in general. Notes [1]. See Harald Welzer, Sabine Moller, and Karoline Tschuggnall, Opa war kein Nazi. Nation‐ alsozialismus und Holocaust im Fami‐ liengedaechtnis (Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 2002); see H-German review by Christelle Le Faucheur at
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Citation: Daniel Levy. Review of Alba, Richard; Schmidt, Peter; Wasmer, Martina, eds. Germans or Foreigners? Attitudes Toward Ethnic Minorities in Post-Reunifcation Germany. H-German, H-Net Reviews. March, 2005.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10308
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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