How do people in Eastern and Central Europe feel? What values do they follow? Fragments from sociological values research/Wie fuhlen sich die menschen in ost- und Ostmittel-Europa? Welche werte verfolgen sie? Fragmente aus der sozialwissenschaftlichen Werteforschung/Kakvo je raspolozenje ljudi u Istocnoj i Srednjoj Europi? Kakve vrijednosti slijede? Ulomci istrazivanja drustvenih

• Published in: European journal of mental health 2011-12, Vol.6 (2), p.138
• Main Author: Tomka, Miklos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Europe; Political parties; Social aspects; Social classes; Surveys
• ISSN: 1788-4934; 1788-4934
• DOI: 10.5708/EJMH.6.2011.2.2

The post-socialist countries in Eastern and Central Europe carried different firmly ingrained habits, traditions and social mechanisms into the era following the political turn in 1989. These differences have slowed down the spiritual coalescence of the Old Continent. The study describes the various emotional attitudes and value conceptions with the help of sociological values research and relevant literature. Its aim is to show how the political relations that evolved in the eastern regions of Europe in the decades following World War II have been affecting the relationship of citizens to the state and each other ever since. Of the challenges related to the need for modernisation and facing the new democracies in the region, the analysis emphasises the great weight of the agricultural sector, the underdevelopment of industry and the poor economic performance on the one hand and the tumbling of the former social order as well as the immaturity of civil society on the other. Then it goes on to show how individualism and retreat into the private sphere (patterns that were fostered by communist party politics) are still influencing social life today. At the same time, in the society of wealth and excess the attribute of highest good is assigned to such 'post-material' values as freedom, the environment, human rights and equality. Finally, the study discusses the different political opinions and value conceptions resulting from an unusual course of development, the feeling of nostalgia towards communism, social differentiation and the prestige loss of the 'working class'. Keywords: values, research results, post-socialist countries, survey, society, changes, priorities Unterschiedliche Pragungen, Traditionen und gesellschaftliche Mechanismen wurden von den ehemaligen sozialistischen Landern Ost- und Mitteleuropas in die neue Ara nach der politischen Wende im Jahre 1989 mitgebracht. Diese Verschiedenheiten verzogern das seelische Zusammenwachsen auf dem alten Kontinent. Der Beitrag zeigt diese unterschiedlichen emotionellen und Wertevorstellungen anhand der Erkenntnisse der sozial-wissenschaftlichen Werteforschung und der einschlagigen Fachliteratur, um deutlich zu machen, dass die Folgen aus den politischen Verhaltnissen in der ostlichen Region Europas in den Jahrzehnten nach dem 2. Weltkrieg die Einstellung der Bevolkerung gegenuber dem Staat und den Mitmenschen bis heute bestimmen. Unter den Herausforderungen eines Modernisierungszwanges, die die neuen Demok