The Department of German and Austrian Studies invites you to a lecture with Steffen Mau

The Department of German and Austrian Studies cordially invites you to a lecture and discussion with Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau titled Unequally Unified: Why Eastern Germany Remains Different, which will take place on Friday, April 24, at 11:00 a.m. in Room C420 at the Jinonice Campus.

Professor Mau is a leading German sociologist and professor of macrosociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. His research focuses on the comparative study of the welfare state, social inequality, and European integration. He is the author of numerous publications on public attitudes toward the welfare state and the relationship between welfare state institutions and public support.

The lecture will focus on the issue of German reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall, which Professor Mau examines in detail in his 2024 book Unequally United. Specifically, he challenges the expectation that East Germany would gradually converge with West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. This convergence did not occur, and social and cultural patterns originating in the GDR persist to this day, shaping even younger generations who have never experienced socialism firsthand. In his book, Steffen Mau examines the causes of this development and its impacts on current political processes.