The Ostalgie Paradox

Ostalgie is a familiar enough term, referring as it does to the nostalgia felt by former citizens of Communist East Germany for the country that disappeared after reunification.

This regime had been oppressive enough that many of its citizens died attempting to escape it. Yet its certainties (whether in music or childhood cartoons or familiar foodstuffs) became attractive as people struggled to adapt to the apparently precarious world of capitalism, with its endless choice, its volatility, its lack of guarantees.

It was social scientist Sarah McClusky of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who first coined the broader term, the ostalgie paradox, to sum up similar behaviour in varying situations.

The ostalgie paradox manifests itself in people who are institutionalized but can also be found in many other circumstances – workers released from bonded labour, citizens of newly independent nations, and even those released from grinding poverty by sudden wealth (McClusky carried out an exhaustive survey of lottery winners in the USA).

In all cases, people become nostalgic for the very thing they bridled against and sought to overthrow. As long as they didn’t suffer any particular punishment and only suffered under a widespread oppression, they will inevitably express longing for aspects of that past.

McClusky also carried out an elaborate experiment in which various people who believed passionately in the liberalization of drug laws were invited on a weekend retreat. During the weekend, the discussion group was interrupted by a news broadcast which announced that the Canadian government was planning to legalize all drugs. In the hour that elapsed before doubts started to arise among the group, McClusky was surprised to see many of them deflated and demoralized and even exhibiting signs of panic.

The conclusion? The ostalgie paradox can best be explained by the fact that even if people hate what they have now, they hate nothing more than sudden change. On the plus side, McClusky found that after a brief window of critical risk, ostalgie is usually benign and might even act as a pressure valve, in that it provides a coping mechanism for those who would otherwise be alienated by the new world in which they find themselves.