ABSTRACT
The incorporation, after 1989, of the GDR into the FRG’s existing system of institutions (Mayer, 1993, p. 39) has led to a dynamic process of change in the living arrangements of East Germans. In this chapter, I shall examine stability and change as they operate in various dimensions of individual coping strategies. To do this, I analytically distinguish four elements: frames, habits, utilisation of available resources, and framing. It is stability and change in these elements that determine biographical decisions which are theoretically and practically relevant in everyday situations. In the theoretical sphere, Goffman’s studies using frame analysis, Schiitz’s studies of relevant structures and the unfamiliar and Esser’s use of rational choice and frames in his analyses, as well as the investigations of Bourdieu, Berger and Luckmann, and of Elias on habitus, have all been incapable of providing a clear explanation of how, and under what conditions, change occurs in structures relating to relevance and habits. Clarification is needed here if we are to arrive at a satisfactory analysis of everyday practical problems. With respect to social integration, for example, it is important to know whether and to what extent mentalities and habits endure social and socio-cultural changes. Indeed, in many studies of societal transformation, deficiencies in socialisation are considered by reference to the cause of the subjects’ dissatisfaction and to obstacles to the process of societal modernisation.
