Society

In October, the Goethe-Institut in North America launched the transatlantic online magazine Gegenüber. Gegenüber connects perspectives from across (German: gegenüber) the Atlantic, in Germany and North America. Our editorial team and contributors from Canada, Mexico, Germany, and the United States offer balanced perspectives with multimedia pieces on societal issues, art, business, and science. Gegenüber tackles transatlantic topics, German-American quirks, and common denominators, offering a political interpretation of culture and a cultural interpretation of politics.

The Institute for Social Research (IfS), known internationally as the “Frankfurt School”, was founded a hundred years ago. Its most seminal thinkers still inform our conception of society today. What may well be their most important legacy is their contention that a different world is possible.

How did trust come to loom so large in the self-definition of contemporary societies? Philosopher Martin Hartmann presents some possible explanations.
 

For many years, surprisingly little was known about everyday life in the socialist East of pre-1989 divided Germany. The "Open Memory Box" changes that with a series of everyday, and for that very reason spectacular, home videos.

“Cats are always good content” has been an unwritten and irrefutable marketing law since the commercial internet was invented. No great surprise, really, since the fluffy pet tiger still tops the list of Germans’ favourite animals. Ten famous cats from art, politics and social media. 

So Germans are punctual, humourless, drink beer and are world champion travellers? We’ve subjected seven stereotypes about Germany to close scrutiny, and made some surprising discoveries.
 

In Germany, a traditional children’s birthday party includes Topfschlagen, literally ‘hitting the pot’, and egg-and-spoon and sack races. Jonas is looking forward to playing the classic games and a delicious birthday feast to celebrate turning four. 

Discrimination comes from outside – many people think. Yet we all internalise misogyny. Why is that?

Whether it is a case of believing someone has long since died, although he or she is still in fact enjoying the best of health, or singing song lyrics with the wrong words – when many people collectively remember things falsely, we speak of the Mandela effect. It could never happen to you, right? A look at our examples might prove you wrong.

The idea of guaranteeing everyone an unconditional basic income seems tempting to many people. But laypeople and experts alike have been arguing for many years about whether – and, above all, how – it might work. A pilot project in Berlin is now looking for new answers to these and related questions, which could rekindle the debate in Germany.  

Structural weaknesses in rural areas are often overlooked. Economic development scarcely happens there, and they are rarely in the spotlight for their climate protection measures either. Researchers went to these regions to investigate how the situation could be improved.

Greenwashing not only dupes consumers; it also stands in the way of real change. Ecological promises and voluntary certifications have long led the public to believe that the global economy is getting greener all on its own. But that is simply not the case. A new law is being passed to fix it.
 

Because of global warming, the oil era is coming to an end. This is something that countries and even oil companies themselves have understood. The challenge for the global community now is to find alternatives to oil that do not release greenhouse gases. How can this be achieved?

The innovative use of urban space for agricultural purposes offers some interesting solutions to many of the problems faced by the food industry. Lufa Farms in Montreal put the idea of rooftop greenhouses into practice and today operates the world’s largest rooftop farm.

In 2009, the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighbourhood in Montreal was marked by a lot of traffic, and accidents were almost commonplace. The mayor of the borough had other ideas and pushed through a radical concept of traffic appeasement against considerable opposition.

Germany’s most sustainable towns and cities rely on the participation of their residents. Quite a lot can be achieved even with comparatively few financial resources.

Anyone in search of a deep, refreshing lungful of fresh air should probably head to the mountains or the seaside. A big city is unlikely to offer prime quality air. More and more German cities are taking measures to clean up the air.

Artists and producers from the music scene are actively interested in environmental conservation. Some question whether preventing plastic waste at festivals and concerts is enough though when the travel involved in touring itself produces tons of CO2.

Working towards sustainable energy for the future: Germany wants to completely abandon coal mining by 2038, an ambitious goal with quite a few obstacles still blocking the way.

It is almost impossible to find an affordable flat in many parts of Germany’s capital today. This may soon change though, now that the rent cap law went into force in Berlin in March 2020. It freezes existing rents for a period of five years. But it is not the only means of protecting Berlin’s tenants.

People are more vulnerable to conspiracy ideologies when they fear a loss of control, making the corona pandemic the perfect storm. In an interview, political scientist and net activist Katharina Nocun explains how we should react when encountering people who subscribe to conspiracy theories.

Neither top nor bottom of the class, Canada is slowly but surely moving towards accessibility for the deaf community.

In addition to roast pork with dumplings, a pork joint with sauerkraut, and potato salad, no list of German national dishes would be complete without the humble currywurst or curried sausage. The spicy snack was invented 70 years ago.

Very few computer games explicitly deal with current politics, but this in no way means the gaming world is apolitical. 

As a holiday destination, Germany attracts visitors from all over the world because of its rich cultural and natural heritage. But what does Germany have to offer besides Cologne Cathedral, the Semper Opera House and Schloss Neuschwanstein? Check here to discover sights that you may not have been aware of. 

The German language, like the French, is considered male-dominated. In recent years, there have therefore been numerous attempts to get to the root of the problem in the language on both sides of the Rhine and fix it. And so here too the battle of the sexes has been raging.
 

Intelligent technologies promise smart cities that are luxurious and comfortable while protecting the environment and conserving resources. But the smart city also means blanketing public spaces with sensors that follow us at every turn.

Carrousel, oompah music and the aroma of bratwurst and spun sugar – not only the Oktoberfest is a tradition, each year traditional fairs are held throughout Germany. But what looks like tradition requires much innovation. Between family legacy and modernity: carnies tell of the love of their lives, the traditional fair.