On Privilege in Germany

Much has been written about Privilege in the sense of aspects like White Privilege, Male Privilege, or First World Privilege. In particular, I've participated in many discussions about Privilege in the United States. It is therefore only fair that I discuss how Privilege shapes German society. These are my own personal views only, and very likely incomplete or possibly even wrong in places - so if you have alternative views, please share them.

First, let us look at Privilege based on the social class of one's parents (disregarding ethnicity for the moment, as I will talk about that later). While of course wealthier parents have more opportunities to send their children to private lessons and private schools, these have less of an impact as social class selectors than in other countries. The problems are more subtle:

• After elementary school (which goes up to 4th grade), children are generally sorted into different school types based on their aptitudes, grades - and the evaluations of their teachers. Only one of these school types - the Gymnasium - directly leads to university (though graduates from other schools can get there as well with lots of extra work). And there are plenty of studies that show that children of parents with academic degree will get a recommendation for the Gymnasium far more often than children from poorer or non-academic backgrounds - even if their school performance is identical!
• On most days, school ends at 1 pm - which means that at least one parent needs to be home from work at noon, and that presents difficulties for families where both parents - or a single parent - need to work to make ends meet. While there has been a push to provide afternoon supervision and activities at school, that's still far from universal, with perhaps only 50% of schools offering this service (the actual percentage varies widely by state). Furthermore there is an expectation that parents supervise and assist with the homework of their children - which not all parents are able to (especially if the subjects weren't covered in their former schools) and again provides an advantage to children of parents with an academic degree.

Once you have actually finished school and entered university, your social background doesn't matter all that much any more - there are no tuition fees for public universities in all but two states (and even those will likely abolish them this year), though cost of living can still be a problem if you don't study in your hometown.

Next we come to Male Privilege. I'd say that in Germany if you are a woman you can reach pretty much any position, including that of Chancellor of Germany... as long as you don't have any children. While there has been a push recently for a greater availability of whole day schools and daycare centers, many people still expect one of the parents to stay home in the afternoons and watch over the children... and in most cases, that means the mother. Many will still call mothers who refuse that role "Rabenmütter" ("raven moms"), alleging that they are "abandoning" their children. This attitude is reflected in a recent law pushed through by the Christian Social Union - a junior coalition partner in the current federal government - which gave €150 per months to parents who didn't use their right to daycare and instead kept their children home.

Thus, mothers who stay at home during the afternoons will have to take poorly paid half-day jobs to have any source of income at all - and and demand for jobs accommodating this schedule far outstrips supply. Meanwhile fathers who watch the children for the afternoons will find it almost impossible to find any suitable jobs at all, since men are expected to work for the whole day and not take any breaks from work for their children - which confirms the saying that "The Patriarchy hurts men, too!"

Next we come to Privilege based on ethnicity. The kind of racist prejudice based on idiotic ideas about "racial superiority" found among the Nazis and their kind still exist, but fortunately these represent minority views. There are two "historic" ethnic/religious communities in Germany which have suffered and still suffer prejudice:

• The History of the Jews in Germany is well known, including the horrors perpetrated against them in the Third Reich. Today there are about 300,000 Jews living in Germany (200,000 of them recent immigrants from the territories of the former Soviet Union). In professional and everyday life there is little active prejudice against them - primarily because they are indistinguishable from the rest of the German population - but there are still racist... fuckwits is probably the most accurate term who sometimes vandalize their graveyards and houses of worship.
• The Sorbs are an ethnic group living in parts of Eastern Germany with their own language whose culture has often been suppressed and parts of their territories confiscated - and even today some old wrongs still haven't been addressed, such as continued use of their territory for the open pit mining of coal.

Earlier waves of immigrants - such as the Hugenots, French religious refugees or 19th century Polish immigrant workers - have been absorbed and assimilated into German society and culture and can only be recognized by their family names. They are Germans for all intents and purposes and do not suffer from any prejudice. With more recent waves of immigrants - that is, any that came after WWII - prejudices persist, and they largely parallel the experiences of immigrants to most other wealthy nations. Prejudice and discrimination largely parallel the prosperity the immigrant comes from, with immigrants from wealthier nations being better of. Personally, I'd rank the acceptance of various immigrant groups in the following way, ranging from best regarded to worst regarded:

• Western/Northern Europe, North America
• Southern Europe/Eastern Europe
• East Asia/Latin America
• South Asia, Turkey, Middle East, Africa

This is largely a matter of cultural snobbery than explicitly based on race - for instance, many black Americans noted a marked improvement in the attitudes of the Germans they encountered when they realized that they were from the USA instead of sub-Saharan Africa. Another aspect which can make a huge difference in the treatment of foreigners and immigrants are their academic credentials, as people with graduate degrees are given tremendous amounts of respect in social situations in Germany. Any visitor or immigrant with a PhD should take care to mention this to any German officials they encounter, as this will make them much more helpful and accommodating!

As for discrimination in everyday matters, German laws outlaw discrimination based on ethnicity, but they also don't track ethnicity - there are no government forms or census data on ethnicity, and no explicit affirmative action practices based on it. There are also no steps to prevent discrimination during job applications - it is still customary to include a picture in your job application, and as studies show it still matters if you "look German" or not.

I think this should cover the basics. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask!