Suchergebnisse

This important study analyzes the challenges faced by second-generation Russians in post-Soviet Estonia, and, in doing so, explores the interrelationships between ethnicity and social equality. It will be of great value to scholars of immigration, cultural assimilation, ethnicity, and nationalism.

Second-generation Russians face two major integration challenges in the Estonian cities of Tallinn and Kohtla-Järve. They are segregated from an Estonian language society whose historical background lies in the policies and social processes of the former Soviet Union. And, compared to their peers, they face an emerging disparity in social and economic opportunities. Such inequality comes largely as the result of newly formed, post-independence institutions, which incite protest among young Russians. With a potential to escalate into large-scale conflict, as exemplified by the Bronze Soldier crisis in April 2007, it is crucial to learn more about this dissatisfaction and the generation in whom it is found. As the second country report of the TIES Project (Towards the Integration of the European Second Generation), this volume sheds light on how various factors can impact integration and how actors can use socio-economic and cultural resources in their adaptation process - in Estonia and beyond. - Tweedegeneratie-Russen woonachtig in Tallinn en Kohtla-Järve in Estland hebben te kampen met twee grote integratieproblemen. De Estlandse taal - voor het verkrijgen van een beroep een vereiste - vormt een barriëre. Bovendien hebben zij ongelijke sociale en economische kansen in vergelijking met hun Estlandse leeftijdsgenoten. Deze ongelijkheid is vooral een gevolg van de nieuwe onafhankelijke status van Estland, die veel weerstand oproept onder jonge Russen.

In postcommunist Estonia, the topic of inequality was considered "embarrassing." The dominant popular assumption was that inequalities just happen naturally. Class and inequality discourse was effectively marginalized due to long-lasting success in focusing attention on nationalizing issues. A "transition culture" that lionized the capitalist future has also contributed to the marginalization of class discourse. Because of this marginalization, and the power of national/ethnic discourse and transitional culture, those most economically vulnerable were deprived of the cultural and discursive resources to resist the most extreme market-oriented policies. Sociologists did discuss inequality more seriously, but mostly according to a gradational and functional stratification paradigm: the central focus has been on individual attributes that divide people into classes. The analysis focusing on relations of exploitation and domination have been virtually absent in postcommunist Estonia. We conclude that the main challenge for Estonian social science is to incorporate concepts of power, exploitation, and domination perspective into study of inequality.

"In this short essay, we try to assess the utility of class analyses for understanding the contemporary Estonian society. Erik Wright (2009) identifi es three strands of class analysis: a stratification approach, a Weberian approach and a Marxist approach. We address the following questions: Which kind of class analysis is most present in Estonia today? Which is most needed? The main conclusion is that due to this marginalisation of class discourse, as well as the power of national/ ethnic discourse and transitional culture, those most economically vulnerable were deprived of the cultural and discursive resources to resist the most the extreme market-oriented policies. The conditions for structuration of class relations were created, while the class and inequality discourse was marginalised." (author's abstract)

Unemployment has risen during the recent recession. However, the experience of unemployment varies considerably across European countries (Gallie 2013b). To study the
unemployment experience in different European countries, a social exclusion approach was combined with a social stratification approach utilizing a measure of subjective social position which indicates how people perceive their relative position in the social hierarchy. In evaluating their social position people make comparisons within societal contexts. We hypothesize that the country-level economic and institutional context impacts the experience of unemployment, the way people interpret it, and thus affects the subjective social position of the unemployed. Our main goal was to study the impact of different macro-level economic and social characteristics on the subjective social position of the unemployed. We focused on a comparison of the subjective social position of unemployed persons against the remaining populations of 18 European countries using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2009 Social Inequality module.

Das International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) ist ein länderübergreifendes, fortlaufendes Umfrageprogramm, das jährlich Erhebungen zu Themen durchführt, die für die Sozialwissenschaften wichtig sind. Das Programm begann 1984 mit vier Gründungsmitgliedern - Australien, Deutschland, Großbritannien und den Vereinigten Staaten - und ist inzwischen auf fast 50 Mitgliedsländer aus aller Welt angewachsen. Da die Umfragen auf Replikationen ausgelegt sind, können die Daten sowohl für länder- als auch für zeitübergreifende Vergleiche genutzt werden. Jedes ISSP-Modul konzentriert sich auf ein bestimmtes Thema, das in regelmäßigen Zeitabständen wiederholt wird. Details zur Durchführung der nationalen ISSP-Umfragen entnehmen Sie bitte der Dokumentation. Die vorliegende Studie konzentriert sich auf Fragen zu sozialer Ungleichheit.