Comparing the informal sphere: Public and private relations of welfare in East and West Germany

With the broader purpose of extending comparative social policy to the informal sphere, the article compares the situations and strategies of home-based carers in East and West Germany. Drawing on case study material, it shows that the 'subsidiarity culture' of West Germany exerts multiple pressures which tend to pull carers into the home in a 'traditional mode' of caring, whereas system effects in the GDR propelled carers outwards in a more 'modern mode'. This contrast is discussed in the light of Balbo's work on the modernisation of domestic roles in welfare societies. The article demonstrates the effectiveness of biographical-interpretative methods in exploring interrelationships between the personal and the social in social policy and opens a new front in comparative social policy.