Changes in the Social Status of Women in Societies in Transition: Russia and Armenia

The project studied the way the post-communist transition has affected the position of women in society and two post-Soviet states, Armenia and Russia, were chosen for a comparative study. Although in many respects the two countries show rather similar tendencies, there are important differences. The most dramatic of these lie in the field of the women's movement and state support, in family lifestyles and public thinking, and in the perception of female roles in society by both women and men in both countries. Whereas in Russia, at least in large cities, it is possible to speak of a movement concerned with equality and women's rights, in Armenia there are few women's organisations and those that exist are most focused on support for children and poor families. In Russia, many post-Soviet changes can be described as a shift towards 'Western' rather than 'Eastern' values, while in Armenia this tendency is much weaker and exists alongside a relapse into traditional attitudes. Iskandarian suggests possible explanations for this, both intrinsic (tradition. motivation) and external (influences, neighbouring countries, involvement in wars, the economic situation, migrations, political regimes). Nevertheless, for both societies it is possible to speak of a growing awareness of women's needs and of the birth of a new tradition in family and public life brought by the post-Soviet winds of change.

The Effects of Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises in Poland and East Germany

The main goal of this project was to propose appropriate methods of analysing the effects of the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, methods which were then tested on a limited sample of 16 Polish and 8 German enterprises privatised in 1992. A considerable amount of information was collected relating to the six-year period 1989-1994 relating to most aspects of the companies' activities. The effects of privatisation were taken to be those changes within the enterprises which were the result of privatisation, in such areas as production, the productivity of labour and fixed assets, investments and innovations, employment and wages, economic incentives (especially for top managers), financing (internal and external sources), bad debts and economic effects (financial analysis). A second important goal was to identify the main factors which represent methodological obstacles in surveys of the effects of privatisation during a period of fundamental transformation of the entire economic system. The list of enterprises for the research was compiled in such a way as to allow for the differentiation of ownership structures of privatised firms and to permit (at least to a certain extent) the empirical verification of some hypotheses regarding the privatisation process. The enterprises selected were divided into the following three groups representing (as far as possible) various types of ownership structures or types of control: (1) enterprises control by strategic investors (domestic or foreign), (2) enterprises controlled by employees (employee-owned companies), (3) enterprises controlled by managers. Formal methods such as econometric models with varying parameters were used to separate pure privatisation effects from other factors which influence various aspects of an enterprise's working, including policies on the productivity of labour and capital, average wages, the remuneration of top managers, etc. While the group admits that their findings and conclusions cannot be treated as representative of all privatised enterprises in Poland and Germany, they found considerable convergence with their findings and those of other surveys conducted on a wider scale. The main hypotheses that were confirmed included that privatisation (especially in companies controlled by large investors and managers) leads to a significant increase in the effectiveness of these production process, growing pay differentials between different employee groups (e.g. between executives and rank-and-file employees) and between different jobs and positions within particular professional groups. They also confirmed the growing importance in incentives to top executives of incentives linked with the company's economic effects (particularly profit-related incentives), long-term incentives and the capital market.

Social Stratification of the Alans of North Caucasus (IV-IX Cents. A.D.)

Dmitry Korobov. Social Stratification of the Alans of the North Caucasus (4th-9th Centuries A.D.) There were two stages to this project: studies of the differences between local groups of catacomb cemeteries in the North Caucasus, and an analysis of social ranks among the Alans on the basis of the large cemeteries. The first stage involved a cluster analysis of 100 cemeteries on the basis of the variables of longitude and latitude, which made it possible to identify 11 local groups of cemeteries. This was followed by a study of the difference between burial rites charcterising flat graves and barrow burials and between catacombs of different periods within these two main groups. Korobov then looked at the difference between the catacombs of various local groups. The second step was an investigation of the social structure of the Alanic tribes. Here Korobov first selected gender-specific grave goods of adult burials on the basis of large cemeteries, and compared single male and female burials on the basis of the associated grave goods. He then used a cluster analysis to draw up a subdivision of male and female burials according to their grave goods, and interpreted the results obtained with the help of ethnographic and written sources.

Social Representations of Politics

Cezary Trutkowski (Poland). Social representations of Politics. Mr. Trutkowski is an assistant in the Institute for Social Research of the University of Warsaw and worked on this research from August 1997 to July 1999. Research into social representations requires the use of various methods to show the phenomenon from different angles. In contrast with the contemporary trend towards the measurement of attitudes in opinion surveys, Trutkowski examined social representations of politics in order to study the problem of political participation. He thus aimed to study a problem which he sees as social in nature from a really sociological perspective. His research revealed a very distinctive difference between the social representations of politics shared by politicians and by the general public. The former consider politics in general as struggle for power which can be used to pursue their own vision of social order. They perceive political activity as a kind of homage to be paid to the greater idea that they pursue. At the same time, politicians admitted that politics is very often treated by political actors as a means of gaining personal profit, becoming purely a fight for the power to rule. According to voters, politicians should be treated as employees on a contract, the duration of which depends on their performance. Politics is therefore not a homage to an idea but a service to citizens. They did however admit that this is wishful thinking in Poland today. A content analysis of electoral campaigns confirmed the dark side of the representation of politics: politicians spend the campaign making promises and presenting visions on television, and quarrelling and fighting in everyday activities that were reported by the press. Trutkowski sees his research as a contribution to the foundations of a new approach to studying mass phenomena. By reviving some forgotten ideas of Durkheim and the Chicago School and incorporating the theory of social representations with a new methodological programme, he believes that it is possible to build a more social social psychology and sociology.

The Social Desintegration of an Ethnical German Group from Romanian Village Community Comparative with a Romanian Group and Hungarian Group from some Village Their Integration into the German Society

Zarna is witness to the disappearance of the Swabian community in Santana, a process which seems to date back to before the major changes in Central and Eastern Europe. His project showed how a strong German ethnic community, formed more than 250 years ago, has virtually disappeared from the village of Santana (Romania). Zarna presents the causes leading to the loss of their ethnic identity, of their culture, traditions and of the collective reproduction of their ethnicity, although the last Swabians remaining in the village have preserved their individual identity and not let themselves be assimilated. The policy of the former communist regime is not sufficient to explain the decline of the German ethnic group, nor is the present international context with its varying effects on the form and reproduction of their ethnic identity. Zarna has analysed the origins of the Swabian community, its development, historical changes (both desired and imposed) and the disappearance of elements that determined their German culture and their pride in being German. The Germans have demobilised more rapidly than other ethnic groups in Romania, partly because of Germany's pro-emigration policy over the last two decades. Many of the emigrants were however, poorly prepared for emigration and have not been able to recreate the prosperous financial situation which they left. The prevalent feeling among those interviewed was disappointment and this increases with age and education.