Mihaela Robila (Ed.). FAMILIES IN EASTERN EUROPE: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE IN FAMILY RESEARCH

Abstract

Mihaela Robila (Ed.). FAMILIES IN EASTERN EUROPE: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE IN FAMILY RESEARCH. Volume 5, Inc, 2004, pp.276, Price: 97,95 US$ (Hardcover).This anthology examines the impacts of the fall of communism on families in Eastern Europe. Within a few years a transition from central economic planning to privatization and marked-regulated economics had to be coped with. Although the effects of the economic and political changes on the individual lifestyles were dramatic, the research on families in Eastern Europe is still scarce. Mihaela Robila wants to fills this void in literature and presents a timely and comprehensive analysis of family issues. The book concentrates on the development since the beginning of the 1990s and compiles articles from fourteen Eastern European countries. Each of the article is mainly written by Eastern European scholars: Marina A. Adler (East Germany), Hana Maoilcova (Czech), Jarmila Filadelfiova (Slovakia), Anna Titkow and Danuta Duch (Poland), Mirjana Ule (Slovenia), Divna Lakinska-Popovska and Suzana Bornarova (Macedonia), Olga Toth (Hungary), Mihaela Robila (Romania), Raya Staykova (Bulgaria), Valentina Bodrug-Lungu (Moldavia), Tatiana Zhurzhenko (Ukraine), Irena Juozeliuniene and Loreta Kuzmickaite (Lithuania), Parsala Egilte (Latvia) as well as Valentina I. Uspenskaya and Dmitry Y. Borodin (Russia).The book proceeds as follows. The editorial introduction describes the powerful impact of communism on the societal level as well as on the family level. Furthermore, it focuses on the shared characteristics of the changing family demographics, family relations, childbearing practices and family policies in interrelation with the collapse of the socialistic system. After the first chapter - the editor's introduction - fourteen chapters, each comprising approximately fifteen pages, is devoted to every single country. All articles are organized in similar sections. The first part focuses on the socio historic and economic context of each country. Following, the change in family structures and family formation processes is shown with the help of aggregate data, i.e. the development of birth rates, marriage rates, age at first marriage or age at first birth are available. This part is particularly remarkable because it presents not only relatively easily available current statistics but also developments until the time of communism. This economic and political transformation process which families in Eastern Europe have to cope with is not only closely related to shifting family structures, but also to changes in family relations. …