Gazing at Welfare, Gender and Agency in Post-socialist Countries

Product Description
The volume presents a new and unique view of welfare in Russia and Eastern European countries from an intersectional perspective of welfare, gender and agency. Since the collapse of socialism, the welfare structures of the post-socialist states have experienced large and rapid changes. The discussions on the reforming welfare models serve as the integrating theme for the volume. The authors discuss past and current developments and make comparisons in time and space between the early 1990s and late 2000s and between post-socialist and transitional countries. Welfare and political democratization are analyzed on the one hand as structures and processes and on the other hand as cultural meanings and through agency, which all are strongly gendered. Macro-level analyses and in-depth case studies by scholars from different countries and disciplines provide a wide and multilayered picture of welfare developments and gendered practices of social services, caregiving and civic activism, among others. Special attention is given to research methodologies, particularly on fieldwork and micro-level understanding of the related topics. The contributors come from social and political sciences and from both former socialist and 'Western' countries from Russia and Slovenia as well as the US, the UK, Germany and Finland. In their studies, the authors examine various regions of Russia and other post-socialist countries, such as the Czech Republic, Romania, Moldova and Slovenia.
Review
'In this work, a truly international array of outstanding scholars uncover the role of society in the European post-communist transitions. The collection constitutes a great advance in our understanding of this complicated subject, illustrating how social groups have negotiated a changing economic and political environment. Diverse methodologies, local case studies, and intensive field work provide a solid empirical foundation for each of the contributions in the volume. Together, the authors uncover the reciprocal relationships between state social welfare reforms and citizens strategies to provide for themselves and each other. This work will be an invaluable resource for readers interested in European studies, comparative social welfare, and gender studies.' --Professor Andrea Chandler, Department of Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

'How do the poor, sick, disabled and elderly cope in post-socialist societies? How do state, civic initiatives, informal networks and market actors intersect in the diverse welfare regimes that once had been pretty similar? Why are welfare practices still feminized so much? These urgent questions are approached by authors from different countries looking at such different societies as the Czech Republic, Romania, Moldova, Slovenia and Russia. The anthology presents a new and unique view of welfare in contemporary Russia and Central and South-Eastern European countries from an intersectional perspective of welfare, gender and agency. The book combines a macro-level approach on welfare, with a deep and rich analysis of concrete cases (with difficult access). Focus on the small sites of welfare villages, municipal regions, organizations, networks helps the reader to [comprehend] viewpoints of various vulnerable groups as well as everyday practices of agents engaged in providing the services. --Elena Zdravomyslova, Professor of Sociology and Political Science, European University, St. Petersburg, Russia
About the Author
The editors, Maija Jäppinen, MSocSc, Meri Kulmala, MA, and Dr Aino Saarinen, SocSc, are members of the multidisciplinary and transnational Welfare, Gender and Agency in Russia in the 2000s (WGA) research team at the Aleksanteri Institute for Russian and Eastern European Studies in the University of Helsinki, Finland.