| Summary: | What is the impact of socialism on social hierarchies? What kind of inequities disappear, what kinds remain, and what new forms of inequality emerge? Growing out of a research project conducted by scholars from seven socialist countries, this volume compares conditions in Poland and Hungary. Theoretical considerations and previous research are first reviewed, and then social distinctions in each country are compared along four dimensions: social mobility, working conditions, living standards, and cultural levels. Each of these is regarded as an aspect of socio-occupational status, seen as the main variable in socialist societies. Several differences in the development of the social structure in Hungary and Poland are observed, most important being the condition of the peasantry in each, and the social effects of Hungary's marked programme of economic reform. The complex process of the impact of socialist programmes on society is traced; a wealth of information on conditions in both countries is provided by these exhaustively researched, conceptually sophisticated studies.
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