바이마르공화국 사회정책과 청년실업

Abstract

In the modern history of Germany, SPD(Sozialdemokratisch Partei Deutschlands) played a leading role on behalf of workers' rights and interests in the era of the Weimar Republic regime. It became a foundation for the Weimar Republic government to promote modern social welfare policies consistently. However, political confusions even in the early phase of the Weimar Republic as well as nationwide financial crisis involved with so-called ‘Ruhr Crisis', a passive resistance to post-war indemnities became obstacles against normal legislation and enforcement of those social welfare policies. Besides, there were serious social confusions resulting from nationwide unemployment. The unemployment problems in the era of the Weimar Republic became first on the rise in the society from social return of demobilized young German men after the end of World War Ⅰ. Afterward, a series of unemployment problems started from the era of hyperinflation caused by ‘Ruhr Crisis' and evolved via industrial rationalization policies in 1925, ending up in recurrence after the Great Depression(1929). It is no doubt that these unemployment issues caused great negative impact on unfledged republic regime, while youth unemployment became greater social issue than anything else in the Weimar republic. Whether Oriental or Western, and whether ancient or contemporary, it is known that ‘youth generation' tends to build their own cultural base through oppositions and struggles on the way to facing and accepting the culture of senior generations. While going through national defeat of the 2nd Reich, resulting advent of unfamiliar republic regime and socioeconomic and political confusions, the ‘youth generation' in the Weimar Republic came to feel far more frustrated and get a sense of resentment or resistance to senior generations. Thus, it is necessary to carefully understand the ‘youth unemployment' before researching social policies of the Weimar Republic, because it resulted in inciting their emotional tendencies as described above; even in the early phase of governmental foundation, the Weimar Republic regime dealt with ‘youth problems' as one of major ‘social policies' and unrolled proactive policies to train and absorb young people into its social system, but such governmental efforts often came in conflict with senses of resistant youth generation, although they were helpful for young people adaptive to those policies in form of occupational training. Moreover, in terms of discussions on the ‘youth unemployment' in the Weimar Republic, conventional studies have limitations in a sense that they have focused primarily on young male unemployment. That is, the youth generation in the era of Weimar Republic was alienated and even overlooked in conflict with senior generations, and such a tendency was more evident in young female labor and unemployment problems. Hence, this study addressed young working women(Arbeitermädchen)'s problems in Weimar Republic so that it could make a further discussion on young female unemployment problems, which were overlooked in previous studies primarily focusing on young male unemployment problems.