Germany's hidden crisis : social decline in the heart of Europe / Oliver Nachtwey ; translated by David Fernbach and Loren Balhorn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nachtwey, Oliver, author.

Contributor:

Fernbach, David, translator.

Balhorn, Loren, translator.

Standardized Title:

Abstiegsgesellschaft. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Social change.

Social mobility.

Social conflict.

Capitalism.

Physical Description:

247 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Brooklyn, NY : Verso, 2018.

Summary:

"An excellent study of how neoliberalism is causing a crisis in Germany One of the German-speaking world's leading young sociologists lays out modern Germany's social and political crisis and its implications for the future of the European hegemon. Upward social mobility represented a core promise of life under the "old" West German welfare state, in which millions of skilled workers upgraded their VWs to Audis, bought their first homes, and sent their children to university. Not so in today's Federal Republic, however, where the gears of the so-called "elevator society" have long since ground to a halt. In the absence of the social mobility of yesterday, widespread social exhaustion and anxiety have emerged across mainstream society. Oliver Nachtwey analyses the reasons for this social rupture in post-war German society and investigates the conflict potential emerging as a result, concluding that although the country has managed to muddle through the Eurocrisis largely unscathed thus far, simmering tensions beneath the surface nevertheless threaten to undermine the German system's stability in the years to come"-- Provided by publisher.

"One of the German-speaking world's leading sociologists lays out modern Germany's social and political crisis and its implications for the future of the European hegemon. Upward social mobility represented a core promise of life under the "old" West German welfare state, in which millions of skilled workers upgraded their VWs to Audis, bought their first homes, and sent their children to university. Not so in today's Federal Republic, where the gears of the so-called "elevator society" have long since ground to a halt. In the absence of the social mobility of yesterday, widespread social exhaustion and anxiety have emerged across mainstream society. Oliver Nachtwey analyses the reasons for this social rupture in postwar German society and investigates the conflict potential emerging as a result, concluding that although the country has managed to muddle through the Eurocrisis largely unscathed thus far, simmering tensions beneath the surface nevertheless threaten to undermine the German system's stability in the years to come"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Translated from the German.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781786636348

1786636344

9781786637147

1786637146

OCLC:

1020311005