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Getting Ahead in the GDR

Social Capital and Status Attainment under Communism

Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University

Henk Flap

Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University

This paper deals with the returns to social capital in occupational attainment in the GDR, once a communist showcase. It examines the extent to which getting ahead in an industrial communist society depends on social capital, which by existing research was shown to be the case in agrarian communist and capitalist industrial societies. Industrial technology and a Marxist ideology supposedly both impede particularism, suggesting that social capital is not that important for getting ahead. In addition, the relationship between the use of and access to social resources is explored. Retrospective data from two random samples collected in 1992 and 1993 in Leipzig and Dresden have been used to test our expectations. Although universalism seemingly dominated the attainment process, as a person's education was more important than his father's resources, nearly half of the employed got their jobs through some informal channel. Yet, the use of informal resources only led to a better job if the contact person had high occupational prestige. Part of the influence of human capital on occupational achievement should be attributed to the effect of a person's social capital, i.e. a contact person with high prestige. Access to occupations through informal ties did not imply that these ties were used. Although one reached higher occupational ranks through weak ties (acquaintances), access through strong ties (friends or relatives) was crucial for finding a contact person with high prestige. This probably reflects the high damage potential of using illegal particularistic ties under communism. Using a high prestige contact person was far more important for getting a better job than having access to higher occupations.

Acta Sociologica, Vol. 42, No. 1, 17-34 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/000169939904200102


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