Germany Monitor 2024 published

"What kind of society do we want to live in?" This is the main topic of the Germany Monitor 2024 (Deutschland-Monitor 2024), which has just been published. What values are shared in our society? Are the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution, the ideas about social coexistence and the organization of democracy supported by a broad consensus? Can conflicting perceptions be explained solely by individual characteristics of the respondents or can they also be attributed to different regional living environments ("contexts")? These and other questions link this year's focus topic with the long-term basic canon of questions of the Germany Monitor, which is co-published by the Institute of Political Science at the University of Jena.

Selected key findings:

• High approval among the population for basic values and civil liberties. Younger people in East and West share the same goals.
• Great need for "security" when weighed against "freedom" and "equality".
• High approval of the idea of democracy (98%) and the constitutional order of the Basic Law (79%).
• Widespread dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy, felt more strongly in eastern Germany (52%) than in western Germany (36%).
• Within eastern Germany, regional structural characteristics have a greater impact on satisfaction with democracy than in western Germany.
• One reason for the increased dissatisfaction in structurally weak regions of eastern Germany is the heightened concern there about social and economic decline.
• Less pronounced sense of unity ("Wir-Gefühl") in society as a whole at national level, but greater perceived cohesion at local level.
• High expectations of the welfare state and public services, now at the same level in East and West.
• The need for "justice" is a central socio-moral leitmotif.

The answers of the respondents show:

There is a broad common basis of values in Germany. The vast majority of the population in eastern and western Germany would like to live in a society in which liberal-democratic fundamental rights and values are guaranteed. There is less agreement on whether individual civil liberties, such as freedom of the press and freedom of speech, are actually realized. Those who do not consider civil liberties to be upheld are often less satisfied with the state of democracy and have less trust in political institutions.

There is also a broad consensus on democracy as a form of government. 98 per cent are in favour of it. A very large majority (80 per cent) also support the Basic Law as a constitutional system. However, there is greater disagreement regarding the current functioning of democracy: while 64 per cent of West Germans are satisfied, only 48 per cent of East Germans are satisfied with the current functioning of democracy.

Attitudes critical of politics are more widespread in structurally weak regions than in structurally stronger regions of the republic. "Where people feel that they are not getting their fair share or are afraid of losing their status, support for the political system and its actors also dwindles. This is expressed, for example, in the form of low satisfaction with democracy, a lack of trust in institutions and populist attitudes," says Jörg Hebenstreit, a political scientist at the University of Jena.

There are high expectations of the welfare state in both parts of Germany. Around three quarters of all respondents expressed the expectation that the state would cover the main risks of life. Attitudes in the West have adapted to the East to such an extent that the former East-West difference is now equalized.

In Germany as a whole, there is currently a lack of a sense of unity ("Wir-Gefühl"): only around a third of respondents have confidence in other people. Only a quarter of respondents believe that their fellow human beings support each other. Not even one in eight people rate social cohesion positively. The poor assessment of society as a whole is in marked contrast to the assessment of social cohesion in the place of residence, which is rated much more positively. According to political scientist Everhard Holtmann from the Centre for Social Research in Halle, this positive experience of the local living environment provides an important resource for the entire community.

When it comes to controversial issues – such as climate protection and migration – negative attitudes are more common in eastern Germany than in western Germany. However, East-West differences are mainly found among older people who were born and socialized in the former GDR or the old Federal Republic of Germany. In contrast, the majority of younger people who grew up in reunified Germany share the same views of society in both East and West. According to Reinhard Pollak, sociologist at the GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim, this, as well as the finding that attitudes in structurally strong Eastern and structurally weak Western districts are very similar, supports the thesis of the Germany Monitor that the assumption of a general East-West difference no longer corresponds to reality.

Background information on the study

The Germany Monitor is a newly developed, annual scientific study on political attitudes and social moods in Germany. The study is conducted by a consortium of researchers from the Centre for Social Research Halle (ZSH), the Institute of Political Science at the University of Jena and the GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim. The Germany Monitor was initiated at the suggestion of the Commission "30 Years of Peaceful Revolution and German Unity" and is funded during its three-year test phase 2023–2025 by a grant from the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany.

In order to be able to capture the Federal Republic in its regional diversity, the Germany Monitor is based on a methodologically innovative two-sample approach. The first sample of around 4,000 respondents represents the population aged 16 and over in Germany. The second sample is a regional sample in selected structurally strong and structurally weak urban and rural districts in eastern and western Germany, with a further 4,000 respondents also selected on a representative basis. Thanks to this unique study design, both nationwide and regional developments can be analysed and contrasted with one another. In addition, qualitative focus group interviews are conducted, which deepen the findings of the standardized surveys.

In 2024, the nationwide representative survey took place in April/May, the in-depth regional survey in May/June and the focus group interviews in September.