Oldal 87 [87]
OCR
Demography and migration | 85 patriots” Ninth, Germany is part of the Western world, both culturally and politically. Tenth, Germans have a collective remembrance of certain events like football world cups, or the unification of the country. These events and places belong to the German collective memory. What is interesting here is the difference between the Leitkultur proposed by Fukuyama and the one by de Maiziére. De Maiziére only selects some components of the heritage of Enlightenment, while other items are only for creating some kind of a bond between the individual and society. However, of these, many could be questioned: is somebody against German mainstream culture if s/he does not like football? And what if someone believes the Germans do not separate religion and governance properly, or Christianity should not play a central role in society as de Maiziere portrays it? And what if someone is critical towards the idea of an overtly capitalist German performance-based society? If we add the fact that exclusion, xenophobia, and making an artificial connection between ethnicity and “Westernness’ are also part of the culture of European countries, it seems that we should be very careful what we propagate under ‘leading culture’ d. Conclusions Against the backdrop of current demographic trends, Europe will be unable to maintain its competitiveness, prosperity, and hard-won welfare systems without migration. However, migration has become a strongly politicised matter, which can strengthen far-right forces in European societies. This means that European societies should be able to create a culture that truly accepts immigrants and handles them equally, but which is also able to integrate them into society. If they are unable to achieve a balance between their economic interests and proper social integration, migration will become a serious source of disintegration among European countries, and also within European societies. Key concepts and terms Birth/fertility rate Demographic transition Dependency ratio Intergenerational conflict Life expectancy Migration/immigration Policy challenges Securitisation Shrinking population/labour force Silver economy
