C6 Social Policies Flashcards
Social welfare reforms
1924- public assistance system. To help poor and destitute
1925- state accident insurance system. Introduced Bismarck to help those injured at work, extended to cover those with occupational diseases
1927- national unemployment finance system- provide benefits to unemployed
Negatives of SWR
Difficult to administer and sustain
Very expensive
Promised more than delivered
Positives of SWR
Supported:
800,000 disabled war veterans
360,000 war widows
900,000 war orphans
Changes for women in society
Free, independent and sexually liberated
Equal in rights + votes
Limitations of women in society
BDF had 900,000 members and supported traditional family values
Had equal rights on paper but wasn’t shown
New woman was a ‘cultivated myth’ rather than a social reality
Social changes for young people
Fewer apprenticeships
Benefits system + day centres however they didn’t compensate for lack of jobs
As a result many young working class joined gangs
In 1925-26, 17% of unemployed were 14-21
Youth groups
Wandervogel - mainly middle class boys, non political, highly naturalistic, hated industrialisation
DNVP 42000 by 1928
Hitler Youth 13000 in 1929
Jews in society
Many felt more German than jewish
Banks owed by Jews 18%
16% of lawyers were jewish
11% of doctors were jewish
Berlin nightclubs
Described as ‘supermarket of eroticism’ by composer Freidrich Hollander
Strongly featured nudity
Felt free to display sexuality
Older traditional Germans felt order and discipline had been destroyed
Theatre in society
Relied on abstraction and symbolism Brent and Weill, treated middle class as villains and criminals/prostitutes as heroes
Architecture
Bauhaus key in the development of art. Students encouraged to break down the barriers between art and technology by incorporating new materials such as steel, concrete and glass into their designs
Make the function of an object or building into the key element
Art
Expressionism
Should express meaning or emotion rather than physical reality
Hannah Hoch highlighter gender inequality
Music
Also influenced by expressionism
Schoenberg attempted to convey powerful emotions but avoided traditional forms of beauty
Literature
Expressionism was a key influence
Free form writing focusing on internal mental state
Revolt against parental authority
Thomas Mann won Nobel prize for literature in 1929, supporter of Weimar left Germany when Nazis came into power
Film
Important centre for world cinema
Myth of new woman vs reality
Employment
By 1925, 36% of German workforce were women
Constitution gave women greater equality in employment rights
VS
Demobilisation laws require women to leave jobs for ex soldiers
Paid much less than men
Married woman who were employed attacked as ‘double earners’
Myth of new woman vs reality
Sexual freedom
Birth control became widely available and birth rate declined
Divorce rate increased
By 1930 estimated 1 million abortions a year
VS
Abortion was a criminal offence and would often be performed by unqualified people, estimated 10-12000 deaths each year by abortions
Decline in birth rate was attacked by conservative press as threatening the health of the nation
Catholic and Protestant churches vigourously opposed birth control
Myth of new woman vs reality
Politics and public life
Women gained equal voting rights
In 1919, 41 women were elected to reichstag, better than Britain
Women were also very active in local government at state and city level
VS
No female representatives in Reichstrat
No political party had female leader
Only communists made gender equality a key element of their programme
