THE INDIVIDUALIZATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE 309
As early as the 1990s, however, products that had been bought in the
GDR regained popularity and value. The cultural overvaluation of West-
ern products that had taken place in the GDR because of the role that
they had played in the satisfaction of personal desires and creating social
distinctions in public dissolved after 1990 when these products became
readily available. In fact, this actually reversed the trend: the desire for
longevity and stability fed into a revaluation of GDR products since they
were in fact known for their durability^79 and which were now called Ost-
produkte. The revival in the popularity of GDR products that had been
completely devalued in 1990 has evolved since the mid-1990s into a
proper wave of nostalgia for the old East, known as Ostalgie, which has
added a strong cultural element to consumerism.^80
Automobile Culture: Trends towards Pluralization,
Individualization, and SegmentationThe automobile was a consumer good that was particularly laden with
personal emotions and social prestige. During the 1960s, it went from
being a luxury item to a mass consumer good in West Germany, which
lent it a special kind of social value at fi rst. Cars became a “symbol of new
democratic freedom”^81 and an expression of personal taste and social
status.^82 The boom in automobiles in West Germany also led to traffi c
problems in cities, and the idea of a “car-friendly city” is simply the best
example of the new automobile infrastructure that developed during this
time and its ambiguous consequences. At the same time, the suburban-
ization process would have been impossible if not for the rise of car sales.
Well into the 1970s, however, public opinion focused on the positive side.
Cars continued to be status symbols, a practical necessity, a pastime, and
a hobby object. In the course of the 1970s, the image of the car suff ered
in West Germany, both socially and privately, as the focus shifted toward
its risks as opposed to its benefi ts. The number of road fatalities reached
an all-time high of twenty thousand in 1970. Exhaust emissions and noise
pollution were recognized as environmental and health hazards, which
led to protective legislation in 1972 with the Gasoline Lead Act, followed
by the Federal Immission Control Act in 1974. Similarly, the automobile
was also criticized for its use of resources in the wake of the Club of Rome
study in 1972 and the energy crises of 1973/74 and 1979/80. The (few)
prohibitions against driving on Sundays that were introduced symbolized
this critique.^83
What happened with the automobile in West Germany can hardly be
compared to its fate in the East. Although one of the main hubs of the au-
tomobile industry was located in the GDR, the SED did not devote much