Schnurre was uncomfortable with political labels and never joined a party, but expressed support for socialist ideas, specifically for the ideology of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, a short-lived offshoot of the Social Democratic Party of Germany that had dissolved long before he reached adulthood. Unlike many other German authors of the time, however, he did not intend for his writings to function as a vehicle for political agitation, but primarily as a means for "moral-ethical activation of the reader". He wanted to "write as a contemporary", and explicitly intended for his stories to be read by "average" and young readers. In his acceptance speech for the Georg Büchner Prize of 1983, he described his approach to writing:
