West German Leadership

Political attitudes and occupational socialization of West German
elites.

Topics: Career characteristics and short presentation of occupation
career; characterization of good and bad sides of the current
professional position (scale); contacts with Federal Parliament
committees, Federal Parliament fractions, organizations of the Federal
Ministries, trade unions and other associations or special interest
groups; most important sources of information; assessment of the
influence of various actors on the politics of the Federal Republic;
general characterization of the power structure in the Federal
Republic; most important problems of the FRG; judgement on government
policies as well as German domestic and foreign policy; attitude to
demonstrations and the continuation of the SPD/FDP government;
judgement on the political climate in the Federal Republic since change
of government 1969 and supposed change of political life in the FRG in
the case of a CDU/CSU government; judgement on the stability of the
political system in the FRG; perceived jeopardy to political order from
left-wing radical or right-wing radical forces; expected changes of
society in the FRG in the coming years; judgement on the economic
situation; attitude to a constitution reform; judgement on decisions of
the Federal Constitutional Court and attitude to the distribution of
authority between the Federal Parliament and the Federal Constitutional
Court; party preference and party identification; image of the parties
(semantic differential, attitude to democracy, scale); social origins;
political discussions and the significance of religion in parental
home; political difference of opinion with parents; party preference of
parents.

Demography: age; sex; religious denomination; religiousness; religious
training; present and past offices held.

Interviewer rating: place of interview; time of day of interview; date
of interview; length of interview; number of interruptions of
interview; presence of other persons; willingness to cooperate or
attempts to break off by respondent; specification of difficulties
during the course of the interview.