The article traces the political economy and labour relations in East Thuringia, a ‘post-growth region’ in East Germany with a structurally weak periphery and a declining populace. We argue that the regional decline results from a process of peripheralization which has led to economic stagnation and a shrinking population, and also has fostered political discontent. By drawing on a regional survey, an intensive case study at a manufacturing site and qualitative interviews with policy makers, managers, works council members and employees, we analyse how peripheralization has impacted labour relations and politics in a shrinking region. We discuss our findings by referring to current political sociology debates on the rise of right-wing populism and the scientific discussion on post-growth, as well as recent approaches of critical geography and development sociology. We show how feelings of injustice such as anger about low wages and the democratic void at work interlink with pessimistic assessments concerning the region’s future and feelings of deprivation. We conclude that the economic model based on labour-intensive exports in the internal periphery of East German capitalism is eroding and is contributing to a crisis of hegemony and political instability.

这篇文章追溯了东图林根州的政治经济和劳资关系，东图林根州是东德的一个“后增长地区”，外围地区结构薄弱，人口正在减少。我们认为，区域衰退是外围化进程的结果，外围化进程导致经济停滞和人口减少，也加剧了政治上的不满。通过利用区域调查，在制造厂进行的深入案例研究以及对决策者，经理，工会理事会成员和雇员的定性采访，我们分析了外围化对缩小地区的劳资关系和政治的影响。我们通过参考当前有关右翼民粹主义兴起的政治社会学辩论以及有关后增长的科学讨论来讨论我们的发现，以及关键地理学和发展社会学的最新方法。我们展示了对低工资的愤怒和工作中的民主空虚之类的不公正感如何与对该地区未来和贫困感的悲观评估相联系。我们得出的结论是，基于东德资本主义内部边缘的劳动密集型出口的经济模型正在侵蚀，并且正在助长霸权和政治动荡的危机。