ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the topics and problems that will remain of central importance in the development of social issues in unified Germany. These include changes in the social structure and associated labor market problems, and changes in the standard of living for all social groups and increasing levels of inequality. From the very beginning of the German Democratic Republic existence, policies toward women tended to concentrate on provisions that would allow the incorporation of the female sector of society into the workforce while allowing them to have families as well. Since unification, many of the social benefits that women in eastern Germany once considered essential for their own development have been eliminated or drastically curtailed. A related problem involves the extension of the West German system of health care and out-patient services provided by private physicians in place of the previous state system administered by polyclinics on behalf of local government and industrial firms.
