This book investigates the extent to which social class has changed in Eastern Europe since the fall of communism. Based on extensive original research, the book discusses how ideas about class are viewed by both working class and middle class people. The book examines how such people’s social identities are shaped by various factors including economic success, culture and friendship networks. The present class situation in Eastern Europe is contrasted to what prevailed in Communist times, when societies were officially classless, but nevertheless had Communist party elites.
1. Introduction 2. The Uses of Culture Among the Croatian Upper Middle Class 3. Rocking in a Free World: Postsocialist Entrepreneurs and Narratives of Success 4. The Few and the Many: The Working Class in Eastern Europe 5. Friendship and Equality: Cross-Class Sociability in the Postsocialist Context 6. Conclusion Appendix 1: List of respondents Appendix 2: Sampling procedure Appendix 3: Social network analysis
Biography
Dražen Cepić is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University of Zadar, Croatia and completed his doctorate at the European University Institute, Florence
