Introduction

The introduction of this book frames the transition from state socialism to market capitalism that began in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 1989 as a story of “winners” and “losers.” Ghodsee and Orenstein grapple with the different viewpoints held by scholars and policymakers, some of whom view transition as a qualified success, and some who view it as a socioeconomic catastrophe. Ghodsee and Orenstein introduce the interdisciplinary approach that the book will take, touching upon research methodology in economics, demography, public opinion, and ethnography. The introduction also provides an account of changes in academic and institutional discourse over time, explaining the initial perspectives of transition and showing where theories were proven correct, and where they failed, over the course of the thirty-year transition. It proposes a new perspective to understand transition, one of extreme social and economic inequality, that captures the experiences of both the “winners” and the “losers” of transition.