Edward Elgar Publishing Surviving Post-communism: Young People in the Former Soviet Union (Studies of Communism in Transition series)

Product Description How do young people survive in the era of high unemployment, persistent economic crises and poor living standards that characterise post-communist society in the former Soviet Union? This major original book - written by leading authorities in the field - shows how young people have managed to maintain optimism despite the very severe economic and social problems that beset the countries of the former Soviet Union. In most former Soviet countries the devastating initial shock of market reforms has been followed by precious little therapy. The effects have been most pronounced among young people as only a minority have prospered in the new market economies and inequalities have widened dramatically. Despite an all-round improvement in educational standards, most young people have been unable to obtain proper jobs. Housing and family transitions have been blocked. Uses of free time have shifted massively from the public into the private domain. Few young people have any confidence that their countries' political leaders will engineer solutions. Yet in spite of all this, the majority prefer the new uncertainties, and the merest prospect of the Western way of life, to the old guarantees. They are prepared to give the reforms more time to deliver, but this time is now fast running out. Surviving Post-communism will be an illuminating exposition of the realities of post-communist life for scholars of sociology and transition studies. Review 'Surviving Post-Communism provides a wealth of data about the economic and social factors that guide and describe young peoples' lives in politics in flux.' -- Fran Markowitz, Slavic Review'. . . an interesting book on young people in post-communist society in Ukraine, Armenia, and Georgia.'– D.J. Dunn, Choice About the Author K. Roberts, Professor of Sociology, University of Liverpool, UK, S.C. Clark, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, UK, C. Fagan, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, UK and J. Tholen, Head, Department of Knowledge Transfer, University of Bremen, Germany