Explaining diverging views on social structure in ex-Czechoslovakia: Does unemployment experience make subjective perceptions more pessimistic?

Abstract

Perceptions of social structure typically only change gradually and their connection to economic development seems to be indirect at best. Times of rapid socioeconomic transformations such as the transition of state-socialist economies to market economy or the disintegration of a common state might witness more notable changes. Using data from four rounds of the ISSP Social Inequality module, we model how people see their position and the structure of their society on the example of the two ex-Czechoslovak countries. Both post-communist societies share the beginning of the transition to a free market economy in 1989 but are divided by starkly contrasting impacts of the transition on their labor market. We show that views on social structure in the ex-Czechoslovak countries diverge over time with Slovaks more frequently describing their society as highly unequal and seeing their position as lower in the social structure. We find support for the assumption that experiences with unemployment lower subjective social position and can be used to explain lower positioning of respondents in the Slovak sample. With regard to views on social structure, we find no clear connection to unemployment experiences. The chronically high unemployment levels in Slovakia therefore do not explain the higher tendency of Slovaks to see their society as highly polarized. Contrary to subjective social position, views on the overall social structure are most likely shaped by factors beyond immediate personal experience with economic insecurity.