Divided in Unity – Identity, Germany & the Berlin Police: Identity, Germany, and the Berlin Police - Hardcover

Glaeser, Andreas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226297837 ISBN 13: 9780226297835

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2000

Synopsis

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the political unification of East and West Germany, the joy over unity quickly gave way to a profound sense of alienation between easterners and westerners. It was said that the Berlin Wall was simply replaced by the walls in the minds of people. The Berlin police force is one of the few organizations in united Germany in which easterners and westerners have been forced to work together, and Andreas Glaeser takes advantage of this unique opportunity to examine how the police officers relate to each other and to understand their expectations and hopes, their attitudes toward work and their understanding of democracy and morality. Accompanying East and West German police officers on their daily patrols through Berlin, Glaeser gathers firsthand accounts that help to illustrate why East and West Germans remain deeply divided. The result of his study is a theory of identity that moves beyond the dominant concerns with race, class and gender to describe how experiences of otherness and sameness are constructed in social interaction.

About this title

About the Author

Andreas Glaeser is associate professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.

From the Back Cover

When the Berlin Wall fell and the reunification of Germany began, Willy Brandt predicted that "what belongs together will now grow together." But this study of Berlin's police force in the aftermath of reunification shows that forty years of separation left the nation with deep rifts between east and west that few would have ever suspected.

From the Inside Flap

When the Berlin Wall fell and the reunification of Germany began, Willy Brandt predicted that "what belongs together will now grow together." But this study of Berlin's police force in the aftermath of reunification shows that forty years of separation left the nation with deep rifts between east and west that few would have ever suspected.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226297837
• ISBN 13: 9780226297835
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 390