On The Verge of Convergence

Social Stratification in Eastern Europe
ISBN: 
978-963-9116-81-8
cloth
$58.00 / €48.00 / £42.00
ISBN: 
978-963-9116-82-5
paperback
Out of print
Publication date: 
2000
200 pages

Based upon unparalleled comparative surveys and newly obtained data, Domanski's new book provides a major contribution to the study of social transformation in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. Focusing on Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia, the author provides substantial comparative information relating to social structure, mobility, inequality, lifestyle and economic stratification.

Applying the Erikson-Goldthorpe classification of class positions, Domanski effectively presents fully comparable data to enable political comparisons to be made with other countries, especially those with firmly established free-market economies.

On the Verge of Convergence contributes to a clearer understanding of the on-going process of social transformation within developing capitalist societies.

Introduction.

Chapter 1: Peasant societies - market societies? The touch of modernization 

Chapter 2: Social mobility rates and patterns: Basic continuity 

Chapter 3: Economic stratification: Similarities, differences and emerging change 

Chapter 4: The debate on owners: Nomenklatura or self-recruitment?

Chapter 5: Distribution of incomes 

Chapter 6: Culture and lifestyle 

Chapter 7: Religion - a stage on the road to modernization 

Conclusion

Appendix

References

"... not only contributes to the understanding of various issues specific to the transformation in post-communist countries, but also enables the making of more general conclusions about the `laws` of social mobility, and it therefore deserves appreciation... Its findings are relevant not only for ECE, but for the studies of social stratification in general."
"Henryk Domanski is not worried about stating the elementary truth that east central European countries 'have no choice but to copy the institutional framework of the capitalist world`. He deserves our appreciation for this frankness."
"... contributes positively to our understanding of the process of transformation in Central Eastern Europe... a valuable contribution to stratification studies."