Although we might not like to admit it, we’re all inclined to judge other people. According to a 2006 study, humans form impressions of strangers within mere milliseconds of meeting them, based entirely on facial features. Although we’re always told not to judge a book by its cover, we do, every single day, and what's more, we do it automatically. I might like to pretend I don’t, that I’m somehow special and different, but I’m not, and we’re all the same in this regard. However, I do have other criteria for judging people. One such metric I use regularly is whether someone has strident opinions about pineapple on pizza. I personally don’t care whether someone likes a cheeky Hawaiian or not, but I do judge those who think the topic is worthy of discussion. The same goes for the British argument on the correct way to assemble a scone - there’s nothing worse than being trapped in a debate with people who want to argue about the correct placement of jam and cream. Who has time for that?

When it comes to similar conversations in Germany, I tend not to have such strong opinions, mainly because when I’m speaking German, I’m less concerned with my actual opinion as I am with just forming coherent sentences. This generally means I’m less judgemental in my second language, but only because I’m far more worried I might screw up an umlaut. Yet there is one topic in Germany that will bypass my language paranoia and access that judgmental part of my brain: the issue of Leitkultur.

Translated as “guiding culture” or “dominant culture”, Leitkultur has been a part of German public discourse since the mid nineties. The concept revolves around the idea that in order for immigrants to integrate into a different culture, especially German culture, they need a set of “house rules” to lead them towards full social and cultural harmonisation. Initially proposed by political scientist Bassam Tibi in 1996, the idea was commandeered by Germany’s dominant political party, the central- right Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU), and very quickly began to diverge from the original concept based on what Tibi considered the four key European values:

Primacy of reason over religious revelation
Democracy based on separation of religion and politics
Pluralism
Tolerance

Co-opted by CDU politicians such as Jörg Schönbohm and current CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who both demanded immigrants respect “main German culture”, Leitkultur dominated discussions on immigration and multiculturalism through the early 2000s. The subject would eventually become somewhat of a fringe debate until 2015, when Angela Merkel’s government decided to accept large numbers of Syrian refugees. Thereafter it has bubbled under the surface, making a regular reappearance whenever concerns over migration have come to the fore.

The most obvious reason I might recoil from a discussion on Leitkultur, is the implicit idea that cultures can be ordered easily into a hierarchy of leaders and followers. This understanding is fundamentally flawed for one specific reason, namely that culture, especially a national culture, is nearly impossible to define. We might like to think we all have the same values, but assuming that a nation as diverse as Germany, with a population of 83 million, might be able to agree on what being German actually means, is disingenuous nonsense at best. Hell, we can’t even agree on what to call a doughnut (Krapfen? Berliner? Pfannkuchen?). As Professor Helen Spencer-Oatey of the University of Warwick points out, culture isn’t hard and fast, it's “a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioural conventions, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member's behaviour and each member's interpretations of the 'meaning' of other people's behaviour.” The keyword in Spencer-Oatey’s definition is, of course, “fuzzy”.

Culture by its very nature is intangible, so how can any culture, whether it be German or not, dictate a set of rules based on such a definition? Well, it quite obviously can’t, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying. Only two weeks ago, Germany’s leading tabloid Bild printed a manifesto under the headline “Deutschland, wir haben ein Problem!” (Germany, we have a problem!) which dictated a 50 point list of “Leitidee” for a “free society”. The list covered everything from shaking hands and eating pork, to paying taxes and carrying knives. Interpreted by many as an attack on Germany’s Muslim communities, it was rightly ridiculed and broadly ignored by any serious person concerned with the question of migration, especially once it became clear that Bild itself could barely claim to be upholding such guiding values given its divisive approach to journalism.

Of course, just because a dumb idea is shown for what it is, it doesn’t mean it won’t still be promoted by those with an axe to grind over immigration or a desire to score cheap political points. This week, Freie Demokraten (FDP) member of the Bundestag, Katja Adler, picked up the baton of Leitkultur from Bild and attempted to carry it into further realms of stupidity when she tweeted:

What we see in this intervention from Adler is exactly the problem of espousing the anaemic concept of Leitkultur. By focusing on a particular type of Germanness, with Christian celebrations at its core, it only served to alienate the millions of Germans who aren’t Christian or don’t happen to have any religious beliefs. It also presupposes that immigrants don’t already respect the values and culture of Germany, even though they may not engage with all aspects of it.

Additionally, what is regularly missed from those who buy into the idea of Leitkultur is the fact that not all parts of German culture are to be lauded. I’ve lived here for a long time, and so have some experience of the positives and negatives. For instance, the Bild manifesto presents a shining vision of German culture, but seems to miss some key concepts that should surely be included in any list of German cultural traits. Driving like an arsehole should obviously be in there, since it seems to be a uniting feature of German life. If you don’t eat pork, pay your taxes, and drive your car centimetres away from the car in front, you’re clearly not integrated. How about exhibiting a total lack of patience for waiting in any queue? Maybe we should also consider telling off random strangers for doing things wrong? Perhaps we should demand everyone has a slavish devotion to rule following, even when those rules make little to no sense? All of these are deeply German traits, yet they never appear to be considered in a formal list of “house rules”. I wonder why that is?

Ultimately, what the debate on Leitkultur misses, is that culture is complex because people are complex - we can’t be organised into tidy little boxes, no matter how hard some might try. As Bild notes in its first manifesto point, the German constitution states that “Human dignity is inviolable”, meaning we have a right to live our lives in any way we see fit, as long as it doesn’t break the law. In my mind, this is what it truly means to be German, and perhaps those who see themselves as protectors of German culture should remember that, or face reprimand for not being as German as they may like to think.

Proofreader: @ScandiTina

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