The Pulse of Europe (West Germany)

Judgement on current situation in life and political and economic
development of the country in times of economic and social upheaval.

Topics: 1. Common part of the survey for all participating countries:
most important problems of the country; intent to emigrate and country
of choice; desired occupation for one´s own child; judgement on the
work of the president of the country; fears and desires for the future;
assessment of current standard of living and comparison with the
situation five years ago and expected future development; judgement on
the situation of the country in comparison over time; preference for
freedom or social security; attitude to admission of undemocratic
parties; attitude to freedom of the press; perceived discrimination
against women; attitude to division of labor in raising children;
judgement on conduct of parliamentary representatives and attitude to
democracy in the country (scale); feeling of political effectiveness;
internal or external control; achievement orientation; attitude to the
national economy; demand for increased environmental protection; desire
for foreign support for one´s country; the government as guarantor of
equal opportunities and social security; welfare state; necessity of
the willingness to compromise in politics; interest in politics at
municipal level; diminishing interest in political events;
self-assessment as patriot; attitude to securing of peace through
military strength; readiness for national defense; necessity of
participation of one´s country in world politics; claims to territory
in neighboring countries; attitude to restriction on immigration;
attitude to use of military for restoration of world order.

Religion and morals: importance of prayer and significance of God in
one´s own life; doubt in the existence of God; attitude to prohibition
of books critical of society and to sex magazines and films; attitude
to freedom of speech even for fascists; assessment of the general
trustworthiness of people; AIDS as punishment by God; representation of
traditional values in the area of family and marriage; attitude to
abortion; clear concepts of Good and Evil; perceived intensification of
class differences; assessment of personal things in common with
uneducated and persons of another race or ethnic affiliation;
satisfaction with one´s own financial situation.

Demography: party membership; union membership; residential status;
city size; religiousness.

2. Additional questions in this survey: judgement on political and
economic changes; changes in the last few years; particularly positive
and negative changes; judgement on the speed of transition to the free
market economy; judgement on the influence of the media and selected
organizations as well as institutions on the country; assessment of the
influence of foreign nations on one´s country; threat to the nation
from within or without; occupation outside of one´s home; work
satisfaction; satisfaction with employer; attitude to Gorbachev, Bush,
Kohl, the Pope, Heinrich Boell, Guenter Grass, Willi Brandt, Wolf
Biermann, the UN and the European Community; attitude to the Germans in
the eastern part of the country, American soldiers in the Federal
Republic, ethnic Germans, Romas, gipsies, Vietnamese, Poles, Soviet
emigrants and Turks; attitude to advertising (scale); acceptance of
advertising in selected media; desired establishing of prices through
demand, production costs or government determination; attitude to use
of weapons in countries of the third world; party preference; most
reliable alliance partner for one´s own country; countries from which
the greatest threat originates; identification as European as well as
West German or German; assumed changes of East Germans through life in
the communist system; expectation of acts of violence before withdrawal
of Soviet troops; judgement on the speed of unification; estimated time
required until achievement of equivalent living conditions in both
parts of Germany; characterization of the Germans in the other part of
Germany; improvement in personal living conditions since unification
and expected development in the next few years; judgement on the costs
of unification; attitude to moving by ethnic Germans; most important
fears; perceived influence of former STASI employees on society;
attitude to publication of STASI files; judgement on the effects of
social changes on the standard of living, moral concepts, public
morals, dealing of people with one another and on the relation of
ethnic groups with each other; attitude to export of weapons into third
world countries.