Postcommunist societies in times of transition: Perceptions of change among adolescents in Central and Eastern Europe

摘要

This article examines adolescents' perceptions of the economic changesand the justice of the new "social contract" in Eastern/Central Europe.Focusing on three countries, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic,it explores the social, political, and economic environments in whichadolescents came of age in 1990. Surveys conducted among high schoolstudents in each country during 1995 tapped their perceptions of theeconomy, the local community, and their personal beliefs about theefficacy of individual initiative and hard work. Responses differedsignificantly based on age, gender social class, value orientation, andcountry. Older adolescents and girls were more likely to observe thateconomic disparities were growing in their country and to be cynicalabout the value of hard work. Those with socialist values alsodiscounted the value of recent changes. Adolescents in the CzechRepublic were the least cynical about economic changes, whereas thosein Bulgaria,were the most cynical, with Hungarian youth the leastoptimistic about the future.