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Changing Social Priorities and the Increased Salience of the Economy in Estonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Barbara A. Anderson  and
John H. Romani
Barbara A. Anderson
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, [email protected]
John H. Romani
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, [email protected]
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Extract

Since 1991, throughout the former Soviet Union marketization has increased, and much of the social safety net has disappeared. Compared with other former Soviet republics, Estonia has fared well. In this paper, we examine the salience and seriousness of various social issues for groups in Estonia in 1996, and we compare the 1996 results with those of a survey that took place in Estonia in 1991 shortly before the coup. We also reflect on the findings in light of opportunities and challenges for Estonia.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 33 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Identity Formation and Social Problems in Estonia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan , September 2005 , pp. 303 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

1. Toivo U. Raun, Estonia and the Estonians (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991).Google Scholar

2. Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, “Growth and Diversity of the Population of the Soviet Union,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 510, 1990, pp. 155–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. Statistics Estonia, 2000 Population and Housing Census II (Tallinn: Statistics Estonia, 2001), p. 14.Google Scholar

4. Agence France Presse (AFP), “Ex-Soviet Estonia Says ‘Yes’ to Joining European Union,” 14 September 2003; AFP, “Ex-Soviet Estonia Looks Forward to Future in EU,” 15 September 2003.Google Scholar

5. The value of GDP in 1989 for each country is set at 1.0, and the values for subsequent years are shown as multiples of the value for 1989 for the given country.Google Scholar

6. These focus groups were part of the project “Group Identity and Social Issues in Estonia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.” Site locations and group characteristics for all of the Estonia focus groups are given in Appendix A of the introduction to this volume.Google Scholar

7. Reports of concerns of Russians about discrimination have been widespread. See Jeff Chinn and Robert Kaiser, Russians as the New Minority (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996).Google Scholar

8. For a description of the 1991 survey see Mikk Titma, Brian D. Silver, Rein Voormann, and Douglas Johnson, “The Estonian Longitudinal Survey,” International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992, pp. 76–93. For some analyses of the 1991 survey results see Barbara A. Anderson and John H. Romani, “Environmental Views in Estonia on the Eve of Independence: Perceptions of the Seriousness of Ecological Pollution as a Social Problem,” a paper presented at the Conference on Population and the Environment in Developed Countries, Rome, 28–29 October 1996, which appeared as University of Michigan Population Studies Center Research Report No. 97-400; Barbara A. Anderson and Rein Voormann, “Women and Equality of the Sexes in Estonia,” International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1996, pp. 76–95.Google Scholar

9. See Raun, Estonia and the Estonians and Anderson and Romani, “Environmental Views in Estonia.”Google Scholar

10. Estonia, Estonian Human Development Report (Tallinn: United Nations Development Program, 1995), p. 20.Google Scholar

11. Estonia, Keskkond 1993/Estonian Environment (Tallinn: Ministry of the Environment, 1993).Google Scholar

12. For each of these questions people could reply they were very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. Figure 4 shows the percentage of members of each of the eight groups who stated that they were either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, with their housing, with public medical care, and with primary and secondary schools.Google Scholar

13. For each of these questions people were asked if they agreed strongly, agreed somewhat, disagreed somewhat, or disagreed strongly. Figure 5 shows the percentage who agreed strongly or agreed somewhat.Google Scholar

14. World Bank, Estonia: Implementing the EU Accession Agenda (Washington: World Bank, 1999).Google Scholar

15. See Estonian Commission on Sustainable Development, Estonian National Report on Sustainable Development 2002 (Tallinn, 2002); Institute of International and Social Studies, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Estonian Human Development Report 2001 (Tallinn, 2001); Open Society Institute, Minority Protection in Estonia: An Assessment of the Programme Integration in Estonian Society 2000–2007 (Washington: Open Society Institute, 2002).Google Scholar