Suchergebnisse

The article explores how enlargement of the European Union has affected the development of the European public sphere. At the initial stage of enlargement, communication between the `old' and `new' democracies was hampered by prejudice and estrangement from the western side and illusionary expectations from the eastern side. Different historical experiences after the Second World War had raised barriers to mutual understanding. While experiences of `building capitalism' brought post-Communist nations closer to the values of the European welfare society, the eastwards enlargement at the same time strengthened the influence of identity politics among the `old' democracies of Europe. As a result, there is now less difference between the `old' and 'new' members of the EU than was expected at the beginning of the enlargement process. The new members of the EU are even more interested in the development of the European public sphere than are many people in the West, because they see in this process their chance to be included in the European communication space as equal members. In order to reach this goal, the process of `horizontal integration' between national public spheres and the development of the common social imaginary of the new Europe is considered to be very important. ■

The changing state of reading and its fate in the digitalised world is one of the core issues in the contemporary debates about the future of culture. The central position of the printed word, and primarily, books as the most valuable cultural medium and the main source of knowledge, are becoming questioned in the age of the Internet. Reading as gateway to the world of fantasies has been challenged by powerful audiovisual media. Is the pleasure of reading as a creative process involving imagination and self-cognition disappearing, and being replaced by the quick exchange of impressions and images in social media? Are these critical notes and concerns about the future of reading just rapid generalisations and misunderstandings, evoked by the invasion of new technologies in the old and well-established world of books? The articles gathered here represent empirical studies, theoretical and historical reflections on the changes in the world of books and reading in the Baltic and Nordic countries, as well as descriptions of the new library practices that reflect the creative efforts to adapt to the changing social and technological environment.

This article examines the mass media in Estonia from their origins, with the appearance of the first newspaper to the present day growth and prospects for development. Using surveys conducted by the authors it examines changing attitudes towards press, radio and TV, and looks at the range of media available to the population. It argues that the Estonian press, never as strictly controlled as the Russian media, has played an important role in politicizing the Estonian people. Finally it examines the question of the autonomy of the Estonian media in relation to Moscow and central state controls.

"Dieser Artikel betrachtet die Massenmedien in Estland von ihren Ursprüngen mit dem ersten Erscheinen einer Zeitung bis zur gegenwärtigen Größe und die Aussichten für die Zukunft. Auf der Grundlage von Umfragen, die von den Autoren durchgeführt wurden, werden die Veränderungen der Einstellungen zu Presse, Hörfunk und Fernsehen und die Bandbreite der verfügbaren Medien untersucht. Die estnische Presse, die niemals so streng kontrolliert wurde wie die russischen Medien, hat bei der Politisierung des estnischen Volkes eine wichtige Rolle gespielt. Abschließend wird die Frage nach der Autonomie der estnischen Medien von Moskau und der Kontrolle des Zentralstaates gestellt." (Autorenreferat)

This book focuses on social transformations as one of the central topics in the social sciences. The study of European social transformations is very valuable in the context of universal discussions within social sciences: explaining invariable, universal attributes of societies and examining changing attributes. The book consists of 20 chapters on European social transformations, written from the perspectives of distinguished scholars from such disciplines as economics, political science, educational science, geography, media and communication studies, public management and administration, social psychology and sociology. The temporal and spatial range of the book is wide, including such global changes as time-space compression, focusing particularly on change processes in Europe during the last two decades. The book consists of four main parts, beginning with an overview of the theoretical and methodological approaches, and then focusing separately on post-communist transformations, institutional drivers of social transformations in the European Union, and European transformations in the context of global processes. The book presents current theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches that complement the scientific literature on social transformations. This book is both an invaluable resource for scholars and an indispensable teaching tool for use in the classroom and will be of interest to students, academics, and policy-makers studying how this diverse region has changed over recent years.

The goal of this article is to identify the lacunae in recent research about post-Communist transformations in the Baltic states, a task for which sociology as a social-scientific discipline is uniquely qualified. The paper starts by periodising the two decades of post-Communist transformation which applies across all three Baltic states, providing evidence for a common Baltic way, with Estonia in a pioneering role. This is corroborated by quantitative evidence comparing post-Communist countries in terms of performance. According to received transitological wisdom, economic or political processes (shock therapy or anti-Communist revolution) were decisive factors in the early success of post-Communist transformation. In contrast, this article argues that economic and political explanations are insufficient in accounting for the running order between Baltic states, and calls instead for sociological explanations focusing on cultural differences described in terms of four orientations of the social imaginary and of social action – continuational, restitutive, emulative and innovative.