Migration and Inequality in Germany 1870-1913

by Grant, Oliver

• ISBN13: 9780199276561
• ISBN10: 0199276560
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-08
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

Migration and Inequality in Germany 1870-1913 presents a new view of German history in the late nineteenth century. Dr Grant argues that many of the problems of Imperial Germany were temporary ones produced by the strain of rapid industrialisation. Drawing on the tools of developmenteconomics he argues that Germany passed through a labour surplus phase as desribed by the Lewis Model. This period came to an end around 1900, creating more favourable conditions for political reform and social reconciliation. But Germany's progress to full political and economic maturity wasderailed at the outbreak of war in 1914.Dr Grant bases his argument on an analysis of the economic and demographic forces driving migration in nineteenth-century Germany. High rural-urban migration led to the rapid expansion of German cities. The main factors driving this were social and economic change in the countryside and the processof the demographic transition. The release of surplus labour onto urban labour markets held back wage increases and led to an increase in inequality. The German economy behaved in a way which seemed to bear out the predictions of Karl Marx and this contributed to the appeal of Marxist ideas and therise of the social democratic vote. However, this was a temporary phase. The labour surplus period was largely over by 1900. The rise in inequality which had begun in the 1820s came to an end, and inequality began to fall. Contrary to received wisdom, Germany was not on the brink of a general socio-economic crisis in 1914; instead itwas moving away from one. However, the political system failed to take advantage of this opportunity, and Germany's dependence on imported food and raw materials led to a strategic crisis which combined disastrously with internal political problems.

Author Biography

Oliver Grant is a Research Fellow at the European Studies Centre, St. Antony's College, Oxford.

Table of Contents

1. Imperial Germany as an Example of Industrialization under Labour Surplus Conditions	1	(21)
2. Sources of Inequality in Rural Germany	22	(34)
3. The Pattern of Migration, 1870-1913	56	(41)
4. Migration in Germany 187o-1913: A Statistical Analysis	97	(27)
5. Demography and Migration	124	(57)
6. Migration, Farm Size, and the Condition of the Agricultural Labourer	181	(34)
7. Agricultural Productivity, Labour Surplus, and Migration	215	(38)
8. Migration and Urban Labour Markets	253	(40)
9. Industrialization, Migration, and Inequality	293	(37)
10. Challenging the Kehrite View of Imperial Germany	330	(31)
References and Sources	361	(28)
Index	389