TY - JOUR
T1 - East-West differences in German abortion opinion
AU - Banaszak, Lee Ann
N1 - Funding Information:
LEE ANN BANASZAK is associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University. This research was supported in part by the Alexander von Humboldt Bundeskanzler Fellowship. I thank Timothy Nordstrom, Ina Ketelhut, and Nancy Wiefek for their assistance in data management and preparation, and Sarah Poggione for her help with the data analysis. I am also grateful to Mark Banaszak, Gunther Hega, David S. Meyer, Eric Plutzer, Robert Rohrschneider, Laura Woliver, and Andrea Wuerth for their suggestions and comments. An earlier draft of this article was presented at the 1996 American Political Science Association Annual Meeting.
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - This article examines East-West differences in abortion opinion in the German mass public. The article explains East Germans' greater support for abortion by differences in the social characteristics of individuals and by the social context of religion. I focus specifically on both individual and contextual effects of religion and on women's place in the workforce. Analyses of 1991 survey data indicate that two main factors explain differences in the abortion opinion of East and West Germany. First, opinions on abortion differ primarily as a result of the social composition of the two societies; secularization and high levels of women's employment produce more support for abortion in East Germany. Second, separate analyses in East and West Germany indicate that the significant factors explaining abortion opinion differed in 1991. For East Germans, women's employment played a significant role in determining abortion opinion, while religious denomination did not. In contrast, West Germans are largely unaffected by women's employment status, although the factors that determine abortion attitudes differ by sex. A replication of the analysis with 1996 data indicates the growing importance of religion in the East. However, women's employment continues to be insignificant in explaining abortion attitudes in West Germany.
AB - This article examines East-West differences in abortion opinion in the German mass public. The article explains East Germans' greater support for abortion by differences in the social characteristics of individuals and by the social context of religion. I focus specifically on both individual and contextual effects of religion and on women's place in the workforce. Analyses of 1991 survey data indicate that two main factors explain differences in the abortion opinion of East and West Germany. First, opinions on abortion differ primarily as a result of the social composition of the two societies; secularization and high levels of women's employment produce more support for abortion in East Germany. Second, separate analyses in East and West Germany indicate that the significant factors explaining abortion opinion differed in 1991. For East Germans, women's employment played a significant role in determining abortion opinion, while religious denomination did not. In contrast, West Germans are largely unaffected by women's employment status, although the factors that determine abortion attitudes differ by sex. A replication of the analysis with 1996 data indicates the growing importance of religion in the East. However, women's employment continues to be insignificant in explaining abortion attitudes in West Germany.
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U2 - 10.1086/297860
DO - 10.1086/297860
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0032272498
SN - 0033-362X
VL - 62
SP - 545
EP - 582
JO - Public Opinion Quarterly
JF - Public Opinion Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -