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Postcommunist Societies in Times of Transition: Perceptions of Change Among Adolescents in Central and Eastern Europe
Author(s) -
Macek Petr,
Flanagan Constance,
Gallay Leslie,
Kostron Lubomir,
Botcheva Luba,
Csapo Beno
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01235.x
Subject(s) - czech , perception , value (mathematics) , social value orientations , politics , political science , work (physics) , social change , economic growth , demographic economics , psychology , economics , neuroscience , mechanical engineering , philosophy , linguistics , machine learning , computer science , law , microeconomics , engineering
This article examines adolescents' perceptions of the economic changes and the justice of the new “social contract” in Eastern/Central Europe. Focusing on three countries, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, it explores the social, political, and economic environments in which adolescents came of age in 1990. Surveys conducted among high school students in each country during 1995 tapped their perceptions of the economy, the local community, and their personal beliefs about the efficacy of individual initiative and hard work. Responses differed significantly based on age, gender, social class, value orientation, and country. Older adolescents and girls were more likely to observe that economic disparities were growing in their country and to be cynical about the value of hard work. Those with socialist values also discounted the value of recent changes. Adolescents in the Czech Republic were the least cynical about economic changes, whereas those in Bulgaria were the most cynical, with Hungarian youth the least optimistic about the future.