Individual Planning or Adaptation
Personal Destinies of Non-Estonians in the Period of Socio-Economic Reforms of the 1990s in Estonia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12875672 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ellu Saar (0000-0002-9682-448X, Tallinn University, corresponding author), Margarita Kazjulja (Tallinn University) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 144-170 |
| Publication date | 2007-08-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Qualitative Sociology Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1733-8077 • E-ISSN: 1733-8077 |
| Publisher | Uniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.18778/1733-8077.3.2.08 |
| OpenAlex | W4211208324 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 27 |
The aim of this paper is to analyze the interrelationship between structural changes and personal destinies of non-Estonians. How do non-Estonians who have grown up in a socialist system and have finished their education in the late 1980s or early 1990s experience a societal transformation? Were structural and institutional changes brought about by a minimum of adaptations and fluctuations or a by maximum of turbulence and mobility? How successful were they in converting resources gained in the old system into other types of assets in post-socialist conditions? The paper is based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2003 and 2004 with non-Estonians graduating from secondary educational institutions in 1983 and belonging to the so-called “winners” cohort. One of the central results of the analysis is that non-Estonians’ behaviour was not so much directed by purposeful biographical projects but rather it could be characterized as an adaptation to new circumstances. Opportunities proved to be less a matter of individual control and planning than of unfavourable structural conditions. Our analysis indicated the stability of relative rankings in social hierarchy despite the huge amount of job moves. It was evident that having only higher education did not guarantee non-Estonians a stable position in the labour market. Broad social network helped to realize this resource
Adaptation (eye · Control (management · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Hierarchy · Management · Market economy · Period (music · Planned economy · Position (finance · Social change · Social mobility · Social science · Social transformation · Sociology · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Urbanization and City Planning · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
The Rise of Meritocracy? Class Mobility in East Germany Before and After 1989
Whose Lives? How History, Societies, and Institutions Define and Shape Life Courses
Economic Activity in Transition
The legal Status of Russians in Estonian privatisation legislation 1989–1995
Ethnicity and Social Exclusion in Estonia and Latvia
Self-employment in Estonia
Path Dependence and Capital Theory
The democratic experience in divided societies
National Reconstruction and Social Re-stratification
Self-employment in post-communist Eastern Europe
Winners and Losers in the Postcommunist Transition
Understanding processes of ethnic control
Ethnic Relations in Estonia’s Post-Soviet Business Community
Weak Ties as a Liability
The Gender of Social Capital
Transitions to Post-Communism in East Germany
Job changes in the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland
Transitions to Tertiary Education in Belarus and the Baltic Countries
Transformation as Biographical Experience. Personal Destinies of East Berlin Graduates before and after Unification
| Citations per year | 0.12 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2016 (8) |
| Highly cited | No |