Suchergebnisse

Discusses the present & potential role of the middle class (Mc) in the development & transformation of Central & Eastern Europe. A number of postcommunist countries have pursued the establishment of a new Mc as a means of promoting economic & political stability. However, this effort has been complicated by a number of circumstances: lack of local capital & class traditions, increasing social resistance to liberal reforms, historical hostility toward the Western concepts of Mc, & the absence of Mc ideology & unity. It is argued that the Mc is not merely the product of liberal economic reforms, but also a creation of these reforms. Although the owner class in Central Europe & intelligentsia of Eastern Europe have been cited as predecessors to the new Mc, it is concluded that the transition toward the ideology & structures of the new Mc is not inevitable, but requires economic & institutional guidance & support. T. Sevier