The article examines how far the transformation process in the post-socialist countries can be considered an “ongoing” modernization in Parsons’ sense. The starting point of the investigation is a comparison of current developments in Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics focusing on the effects of market and political pluralization on the level of social structure, everyday patterns of action and the changes undergone by elites. Finally, the special case of the former GDR is discussed. Because of anomic effects occurring in the transition process and causing social and ethnic exclusion, disintegration and particularization, the article questions a precipitate evaluation of the transformation process as a positive institutional modernization.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.