Two Ways into the Mass Consumer Society? East and West German Retail within the Structural Change (1961 - 2000) - Renewal Proposal.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. André Steiner
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Economic and Social History
• Term: from 2015 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 260091861

The research projects deals with the development of retailing in Germany in the last four decades of the 20th century. With the inclusion of the GDR, the "old" and the "new" Federal Republic of Germany, it applies a cross-era as well as a cross-system approach (1961 - 1990, 1990s). At first, the contribution of the retail industry to the structural changes in the national economies of the two German states and the newly unified Germany constitutes one topic of the investigation. At second, the structural changes within the retail industry itself represent another-one. Apart from the obvious regulatory distinctions between the two economic systems in divided Germany, similarities in the development of retailing and of private consumption of goods and services are analyzed. Here, some particular questions stand in the forefront: Which ways of distribution were typical in certain periods of time? What was the typical retail store in those periods of time? When particular new products became part of the mass consumption of goods and services? The project investigates the, firstly, separated, then, secondly, unified way(s) into the mass consumer society, with goods and services becoming formative elements in the definition of goals of consumption as well as in the characterization of the behavior and the thinking of consumers. Furthermore, the motifs of the actors during the process of structural change itself and the interactive influencing stand, as far as it is possible, in the focus of the study. Finally, the perception of developments in the retail industry of the, respectively, other German state by authorities and the population represents another topic of the study. Here, especially, the East Germans observation of developments in the Federal Republic will be considered. Results are to published in a monograph. Some detailed results have been published, already, in articles.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Martin Sabrow