What is it about?
The experiences of East German teachers' formative years living under a socialist regime and the impact it had on them. In this article we look at both the positive and the negative effect that having spent one's childhood, and young adulthood in East Germany has had on their identities.
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Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The response and behavior of East Germans to living in an authoritarian regime was not unique to them. The argument put forward here is that other people, and West Germans in particular, would not have reacted differently under similar circumstances. Consequently, how they managed their lives and how their responses varied, is of considerable interest to us, as we are also exposed to ideologies, that many of us are not even aware of. In fact, while in East German the ideology was explicit and could be accepted or rejected this is not the case in present day neo-liberal capitalism.
Perspectives
I learned a great deal from writing this article about human nature and how people respond very differently when they are required to live under a relatively benign authoritarian regime. This article also made me question to what extent we question the ideologies that we live under.
Dr Shaalan Farouk
New York University Abu Dhabi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Narrative identities of teachers from the German Democratic Republic., Qualitative Psychology, February 2022, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/qup0000171.
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