The Religiously Unaffiliated in Germany, 1949–2013: Contrasting Patterns of Social Change in East and West

In this case study of Germany, we use repeated cross-sectional surveys to analyze the temporal structure, gender gap, and educational gradient of the unaffiliated in the post-war period in the West. The continuing institutional role for religion in the West and the rapid de-institutionalization and subsequent re-institutionalization of religion in the East informs the comparison of the unaffiliated in East and West since unification. Stronger age effects in the East, persistent period effects in the West, and cohort effects combine with a stronger educational gradient and larger gender gap in the West to define the contrasting features of the changes in religious affiliation.