Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

109

Socio-Economic Development in Postsocialist Countries: Comparative Perspectives

RC09 Social Transformations and Sociology of Development (host committee)

Language: English

This session invites submissions that examine the intersection of globalization, economic development, and social outcomes, such as inequality or democracy, in postsocialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia and China. Transformations after socialism have happened during a particular socio-historical moment of neoliberal globalization, financialization and economic crisis.
How have these global trends shaped postsocialist developments? In many countries, the crisis has brought a time of recession, high unemployment and soaring sovereign debt, with governance marred by non-transparency and informality.
In some cases, restive publics began to register support for populist and radical parties, in others they staged protest against the current governments. Some countries have shown more resistance and have weathered the crisis better than others. Why is that so?
We welcome papers that explore any of these topics, employing a cross-national framework to interrogate the divergences and similarities across the region, and between the postsocialist countries and the rest of the world. We welcome quantitative cross-national analyses, qualitative case study comparisons, or multi-method designs. Posters: