Social Determination of Living Conditions in Post-Communist Societies

Abstract: Draws on a 1993 survey of adults in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, & Slovakia (N = 4,500+ in each country) to examine everyday social inequality in postcommunist Central & Eastern Europe. Living conditions are operationalized in terms of material & cultural consumption, & their possible demographic & structural determinants are investigated. Variations among countries (eg, Hungary's greater inequality of living conditions) are partly accounted for by type & age of economic transformation, continuing strength of the old distributive hierarchy, & importance of the informal economy. Intranational differences are explained only moderately by income (moreso in Hungary & Poland) & are significantly related to education & class. Class & occupation are particularly useful for analyzing inconsistent consumption; eg, high cultural combined with low material consumption is most common among certain white-collar professions, while market-oriented employment is associate

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet ; In: Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review ; 5 (1997) 2 ; 197-215

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 1997
• Creator: Robert, Peter

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-54225
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:42 PM CET