Social shock in transforming Central and Eastern Europe

Central and Eastern European societies, in spite of significant successes of transformation, are in a social shock. Economic hardship, unemployment, lower income and even poverty for many, and social polarization played a role in disappointment. The main reason of social shock, however, was cultural, the sharp collision of state socialist, and traditional values on the one hand and new values and social behavioral requirements on the other. The doors opened widely, but most of the people were frightened to enter into an unknown world. Social-behavioral changes are generations-long processes. (c) 2007 The Regents of the University of California. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.