Revenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic

TitleRevenge of the Domestic: Women, the Family, and Communism in the German Democratic Republic
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsHarsch, Donna
Number of Pages350
PublisherPrinceton University Press
CityPrinceton, NJ
Abstract

Revenge of the Domestic examines gender relations in East Germany from 1945 to the 1970s, focusing especially on the relationship between ordinary women, the Communist Party, and the state. As state dependence on female employment increased, the book shows, the Communists began to respond to the insistence of women that the state pay attention to the family. In fits and starts, the party state begrudgingly retooled policy in a more consumerist and family-oriented direction. This "domestication" was partial, ambivalent, and barely acknowledged from above. It also had ambiguous, arguably regressive, effects on the private gender arrangements and attitudes of East Germans. Nonetheless, the economic and social consequences of this domestication were cumulatively powerful and, the book argues, gradually undermined the foundations of the GDR.

URLhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv346sw4
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69027636

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