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 associated with high material but low cultural consumption.