Transitions to post-communism in East Germany: Worklife mobility of women and men between 1989 and 1993

The article deals with one major aspect of the transformation of former soc ialist societies: the reallocation of persons in the occupational and class structure via individual mobility processes, In East Germany, this transfo rmation occurred within the unique context of the legal, political and econ omic incorporation of the former German Democratic Republic into the Federa l Republic of Germany Theoretically, we develop hypotheses on the society o f origin, the society of destination, and the transformation process itself as well as hypotheses on the determinants of success and failure in the tr ansition process, Empirically, we rely on the East German part of the Germa n Life History Study (GLHS), a representative study of the East German wome n and men born in 1929-31, 1939-41, 1951-53 and 1959-61. Our analyses focus especially on the transition process between 1989 and 1993, Among the unex pected results are the high degree of occupational stability among those ab le to remain in the labour market and the high rate of downward mobility co mbined with a low rate of unemployment among former managers and affliates of the Communist regime.