The Economist Book of the Week on 29th May 2010 was A Tale of Two Villages by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi. "A dramatic, thought-provoking and sometimes savagely funny account of one of the toughest problems in Europe: the ingrained poverty of the Romanian countryside."

CEU Press launched Masterpieces of History - The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989, the sixth book in the Cold War Reader Series, on May 31 at the Open Society Archives. The volume, based on the ground-breaking research and documentation of the National Security Archive in Washington DC, contains crucial historical documents and is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War.

Prague Tales leads top ten of CEU Press sales after 2000. 2. Memoir of Hungary, 3. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 4. A Cardboard Castle, 5. Jewish Budapest, 6. A Biographical Dictionary, 7. Stalin – an Unknown Portrait , 8. Uprising in East Germany, 9. A Life under Russian Serfdom, 10. Russian Foreign Policy in Transition





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On The Verge of Convergence
Social Stratification in Eastern Europe

Henryk Domanski, Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Based upon unparalleled comparative surveys and newly obtained data, Domanski's new book provides a major contribution to the study of social transformation in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. Focusing on Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia, the author provides substantial comparative information relating to social structure, mobility, inequality, lifestyle and economic stratification.

Applying the Erikson-Goldthorpe classification of class positions, Domanski effectively presents fully comparable data to enable political comparisons to be made with other countries, especially those with firmly established free-market economies.

On the Verge of Convergence contributes to a clearer understanding of the on-going process of social transformation within developing capitalist societies.

 

"... not only contributes to the understanding of various issues specific to the transformation in post-communist countries, but also enables the making of more general conclusions about the `laws` of social mobility, and it therefore deserves appreciation... Its findings are relevant not only for ECE, but for the studies of social stratification in general." - European Sociological Review

"Henryk Domanski is not worried about stating the elementary truth that east central European countries 'have no choice but to copy the institutional framework of the capitalist world`. He deserves our appreciation for this frankness." - Slavic Review

"... contributes positively to our understanding of the process of transformation in Central Eastern Europe... a valuable contribution to stratification studies." - Slavonic and East European Review (London)

Contents

Introduction. Chapter 1: Peasant societies - market societies? The touch of modernization Chapter 2: Social mobility rates and patterns: Basic continuity Chapter 3: Economic stratification: Similarities, differences and emerging change Chapter 4: The debate on owners: Nomenklatura or self-recruitment? Chapter 5: Distribution of incomes Chapter 6: Culture and lifestyle Chapter 7: Religion - a stage on the road to modernization Conclusion. Appendix. References

2000
200 pages
ISBN 978-963-9116-81-8 cloth $44.95 / €37.95 / £30.00
ISBN 978-963-9116-82-5 paperback $21.95 / €18.95 / £14.99

 

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