Premium
From Kolkhoz to Holding Company: a Hungarian Agricultural Producer Co‐operative in Transition
Author(s) -
Swain Nigel
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6443.00111
Subject(s) - technocracy , pseudonym , agriculture , social capital , capital (architecture) , market economy , common ownership , economic system , process (computing) , economy , business , political economy , economics , sociology , political science , social science , politics , law , history , archaeology , computer science , operating system , ecology , biology
This paper uses a case study, the Noble Grape co‐operative (a pseudonym), to illustrate the roles of social and cultural capital in both the creation of a successful agricultural producer co‐operative (collective farm) in socialist Hungary and its transformation into a successful private company after 1989. It identifies both continuities in personnel, from socialist technocrat to capitalist manager, and continuities in the financial establishment with which it deals. The social origins of the key players in the transformation are compared with the existing sociological literature on changing elites in Eastern Europe, and the fate of the ordinary members who appear to be the losers in the process.