Demands of Social Change as a Function of the Political Context,Institutional Filters,and Psychosocial Resources

Individually experienced demands of current social change in the domains of work and family were assessed in a large sample of adults from two Western and two Eastern federal states of Germany. For each domain of life, a cumulated index was computed representing the load with highly endorsed demands and this was compared across political regions, employment, partnership status and participants’ level of education. Generally, a higher load of demands was found in Eastern Germany for participants who were unemployed or outside the labor market, those who were separated or divorced, and those with lower education. The political context and education aggravated the load of demands in the domain of work (but not in the domain of family) as indicated by significant two-way interactions between the different factors. The results prove that the demands of social change due to globalization or individualization differ in a systematic way across ecological niches.