The Kalamari Union: Middle Class in East and West / Edition 1

by Markku Kivinen

Overview

First published in 1998, this volume asks: are new social classes in the making in eastern Europe? Are class issues withering away? How do different classes organize their lives, what kind of strategies do they adopt in East and West. Markku Kivinen brings Eastern Europe into the class debate. Recent sociological discussions have touched upon questions of class in Eastern Europe only very provisionally. On the other hand, old analyses of social stratification under conditions of 'actually existed socialism' are no longer relevant in the current situation. This book analyses processes of class relations in Eastern Europe from new theoretical vantage-points, using up-to-date empirical data. Under socialism, power was said to be vested in the working class. However, there was a constant tension between the 'holy proletariat' and the real life of the working class. Today, all political forces in Eastern Europe; leftist and liberal alike, are hankering for the middle class. This book explores the real processes in both East and West. This leads to more concrete political and even moral issues. The new 'sacred middle class' is challenged. The contributors adopt several conceptual approaches and perspectives which enter into a fruitful exchange in this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138350809
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/07/2020
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.62(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

List of Contributors vii

Introduction: Class Analysis in East and West ix

Part I Entrepreneurs

1 Transformation of the Estonian Enterprise Sector from a Planned System towards Market Economy Kari Liuhto 3

2 'New Russians' and Social Change Johan Bäckman 15

3 Entrepreneurs in Contemporary Political Structures Galina Eremicheva Nina Solovieva 36

4 Petty Production in Baltic Agriculture: Estonian and Lithuanian Models Ilkka Alanen 39

5 Attitudes towards Privatization: Winners and Losers Meilute Taljunaite Aleksandras Cesnavicius 71

Part II Wage-Earning Middle Classes In Formation

6 Formation of Class Structure under Conditions of Radical Social Change: An East European Experience Kazimierz M. Slomczynski 89

7 The New Middle Strata in Modern Russia Vladimir Ilyin 118

8 Non-Identical Twins: The Formation of the Middle Class in Israel Amir Ben-Porat 130

9 Intragenerational Mobility and Middle Class Formation in Estonia Ellu Saar Jelena Helemäe 149

Part III Managers And Professionals

10 A Russian Middle Class in Formation? Social Strata and Sectional Trade Unionism in the Aviation and Coal Industries Peter Fairbrother 179

11 Managerial Change in Estonia Harri Melin 204

12 On Transition to the Middle Class: Professional Strategies of Young Intellectuals in Russia Victoria Semenova 220

13 The Fate of Party Functionaries in Post-Soviet Russia Alla Bystrova 230

14 The Middle Classes in the Baltic States - Theoretical Starting Points Markku Kivinen 242

Part IV Identity And Lifestyle Of The Middle Classes

15 The Middle Class and Civil Society Mihail Chernysh 257

16 Capitalism and Democracy in Two Baltic Countries Jouko Nikula 265

17 Class Differences in Consciousness and Reproduction in the Baltic Countries Raimo Blom 278

18 Increasing Differences? Social Background and the Breakthrough of Affluence in Finland 1955-1966 Timo Toivonen 299

19 From Status to Class: The Emergence of a Class Society in Russia Timo Piirainen 314

Editorial Reviews

The title refers to a film by Finnish director Kaurism<:a>ki, in which 17 workers named Frank unsuccessfully try to rise to the middle class. Kivinen (director, Finnish Centre for Russian and East European Studies, U. of Helsinki) leads 22 contributors in picking up where this film leaves off in offering new empirical and theoretical perspectives on class stratification in Eastern Europe. Discarding Soviet socialist views as failing to account for the current transition period, they consider: entrepreneurs, middle class formation, managers and professionals, and the identity/lifestyle of the middle classes. Bibliography, but no index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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