Taking stock of shock : social consequences of the 1989 revolutions
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Bibliographic Information
Taking stock of shock : social consequences of the 1989 revolutions
Oxford University Press, c2021
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell A. Orenstein blend empirical data with lived experiences to produce a robust picture of who won and who lost in post-communist transition, contextualizing the rise of populism in Eastern Europe.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, more than 400 million people suddenly found themselves in a new reality, a dramatic transition from state socialist and centrally planned workers' states to liberal democracy (in most cases) and free markets. Thirty years later, postsocialist citizens remain sharply divided on the legacies of transition. Was it a success that produced great progress after a short recession, or a socio-economic catastrophe foisted on the East by Western capitalists?
Taking Stock of Shock aims to uncover the truth using a unique, interdisciplinary investigation into the social consequences of transition-including the rise of authoritarian populism and xenophobia. Showing that economic, demographic, sociological, political scientific, and ethnographic research
produce contradictory results based on different disciplinary methods and data, Kristen Ghodsee and Mitchell Orenstein triangulate the results. They find that both the J-curve model, which anticipates sustained growth after a sharp downturn, and the "disaster capitalism" perspective, which posits that neoliberalism led to devastating outcomes, have significant basis in fact. While substantial percentages of the populations across a variety of postsocialist countries enjoyed remarkable success,
prosperity, and progress, many others suffered an unprecedented socio-economic catastrophe. Ghodsee and Orenstein conclude that the promise of transition still remains elusive for many and offer policy ideas for overcoming negative social and political consequences.
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Authors' Note on Terminology
Introduction: Transition from Communism - Qualified Success or Utter Catastrophe?
Part One: The Economic Evidence
Chapter One: The Plan for a J-Curve Transition
Chapter Two: Plan Meets Reality
Chapter Three: Modifying the Framework
Chapter Four: Counter-Narratives of Catastrophe
Part Two: The Demographic Evidence
Chapter Five: Where Have All the People Gone?
Chapter Six: The Mortality Crisis
Chapter Seven: Collapse in Fertility
Chapter Eight: Outmigration Crisis
Part Three: The Public Opinion Evidence
Chapter Nine: Disappointment with Transition
Chapter Ten: Public Opinion of Winners and Losers
Chapter Eleven: Evaluations Shift Over Time
Chapter Twelve: Towards a New Social Contract?
Part Four: The Ethnographic Evidence
Chapter Thirteen: Portraits of Desperation
Chapter Fourteen: Resistance is Futile
Chapter Fifteen: Return to the Past
Chapter Sixteen: The Patriotism of Despair
Conclusion: Towards an Inclusive Prosperity
Appendix: Data Sources
Selected Bibliography
by "Nielsen BookData"
