Economy and Society: Social inequality and regional development in post-socialist Europe
Comparative analysis in economic sociology and political economy

The purpose of this working group is to convene a group of researchers interested in the intersections of economy, society and polity in the socialist and postsocialist periods. Researchers involved in this working group are concerned with how institutions, ideas, politics and networks shape economic processes as well as with the consequences of economic transformations for various postsocialist development outcomes. The group considers of particular value cross-country or cross-regional comparisons but is open to contributions approaching this topic from various levels of analysis (e.g. macro-national, organizational or individual), and using quantitative or qualitative methods – whichever is (are) required to successfully address a particular research question at hand. Particular issues of empirical and theoretical consideration include, but are not limited to:

  • Investigation of the social and political organization of the socialist economy and its empirical variations, such as centralized economy or workers self-management.

  • Analysis of economic change and challenges associated with the transformation from socialist to capitalist economic system, including the institutional preconditions for change and emergence of new economic actors, such as managers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, foreign investors, etc.

  • Investigation of the varieties of postsocialist economic systems, compared and contrasted with the investigations into the varieties of capitalism developed for other parts of the world.

  • Investigation into the consequences of market-transition for economic, social and political developments, such as social inequality, economic growth, or democratization.

  • Investigation into the regional differences of postsocialist development.

Working Group coordinator

Nina Bandelj, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University and was awarded the Martin Seymour Lipset Dissertation Prize from the Society of Comparative Research. Her research has been published in Social Forces, Current Sociology, Sociological Forum and East European Politics and Societies. A book based on her dissertation entitled Embedded Economies: The Social Foundation of Foreign Direct Investment in Postsocialist Europe is forthcoming with Princeton University Press. Nina held a Visiting Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the European University Institute. Contact: nbandelj-at-uci-dot-edu

Members

Hennadii Korzhov, ‘Oligarchy as a Regional Trajectory of Development’

Tibor Meszmann, ‘The Role of Ideas in Systemic Change - The Fate of the Workers’ Self-Management Systems in Poland, Serbia and Slovenia’

Damiana Otoiu, ‘A Comparative Approach to Property Restitution in Eastern and Central Europe after 1989’

Regine Spector, ‘The Formation of Trade, Business, and Markets in the Post-Soviet Region’

Catherine Spieser, “Building Economic and Social Policies for Labor Market Adjustment in Times of Systemic Change: The Case of Poland 1989-2004”

Alina Surubaru, “The Transformations of a Centralized Economy: Becoming Capitalist in Romania after 1989’

Ivo Vassilev, ‘Market and State in Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania’

 

last modified: 2007-03-01