Comparing the Informal Sphere: Public and Private Relations of Welfare in East and West Germany

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Abstract
With the broader purpose of extending comparative social policy to the informal sphere, the article compares the situations and strategies of home-based carers in East and West Germany. Drawing on case study material, it shows that the `subsidiarity culture' of West Germany exerts multiple pressures which tend to pull carers into the home in a `traditional mode' of caring, whereas system effects in the GDR propelled carers outwards in a more `modern mode'. This contrast is discussed in the light of Balbo's work on the modernisation of domestic roles in welfare societies. The article demonstrates the effectiveness of biographical-interpretative methods in exploring interrelationships between the personal and the social in social policy and opens a new front in comparative social policy.