Hegemonic Masculinities in East and West Germany (German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany)

Abstract

Proceeding from Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity, this article examines the effect of differing social structures and culturally dominant patterns on masculinities in the German states, separated until 1989, German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany. The article starts with interviews with East German men, who were questioned about their understanding of masculinity and their view of the differences compared with West German men. The results of the interviews are analyzed against the background of the differing social developments in both German countries. Two different hegemonic patterns are identified: the hegemonic masculinity in West Germany is described as a pattern oriented on the lifestyle and aesthetic standard of modern middle classes and transnational entrepreneurship, while the hegemonic masculinity in the former German Democratic Republic is shaped through a proletarian-petty bourgeois lifestyle and taste. The thesis is formulated that after the unification of the two countries, the proletarian-petty bourgeois pattern lost its hegemonic role and, compared with the West German pattern of masculinity, has become marginalized.