Changing social priorities and the increased salience of the economy in Estonia*

*The collection of the data for the 1991 survey was supported by a grant from the Social Science Research Council and by Contract No. 805–19 from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research. Data analysis of the 1991 survey data was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The collection of the focus group data and the workshop in Kyiv were supported by the Ford Foundation Grant No. 950-1163 and by Contract No. 812-11 from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. The preparation of this paper was also supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Grant Number P30 HD-10003 and by the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Abstract

Since 1991, throughout the former Soviet Union marketization has increased, and much of the social safety net has disappeared. Compared with other former Soviet republics, Estonia has fared well. In this paper, we examine the salience and seriousness of various social issues for groups in Estonia in 1996, and we compare the 1996 results with those of a survey that took place in Estonia in 1991 shortly before the coup. We also reflect on the findings in light of opportunities and challenges for Estonia.

Notes

*The collection of the data for the 1991 survey was supported by a grant from the Social Science Research Council and by Contract No. 805–19 from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research. Data analysis of the 1991 survey data was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The collection of the focus group data and the workshop in Kyiv were supported by the Ford Foundation Grant No. 950-1163 and by Contract No. 812-11 from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. The preparation of this paper was also supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Grant Number P30 HD-10003 and by the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

1. Toivo U. Raun, Estonia and the Estonians (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991).

2. Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, “Growth and Diversity of the Population of the Soviet Union,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 510, 1990, pp. 155–177.

3. Statistics Estonia, 2000 Population and Housing Census II (Tallinn: Statistics Estonia, 2001), p. 14.

4. Agence France Presse (AFP), “Ex-Soviet Estonia Says ‘Yes’ to Joining European Union,” 14 September 2003; AFP, “Ex-Soviet Estonia Looks Forward to Future in EU,” 15 September 2003.

5. The value of GDP in 1989 for each country is set at 1.0, and the values for subsequent years are shown as multiples of the value for 1989 for the given country.

6. These focus groups were part of the project “Group Identity and Social Issues in Estonia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.” Site locations and group characteristics for all of the Estonia focus groups are given in Appendix A of the introduction to this volume.

7. Reports of concerns of Russians about discrimination have been widespread. See Jeff Chinn and Robert Kaiser, Russians as the New Minority (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996).

8. For a description of the 1991 survey see Mikk Titma, Brian D. Silver, Rein Voormann, and Douglas Johnson, “The Estonian Longitudinal Survey,” International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992, pp. 76–93. For some analyses of the 1991 survey results see Barbara A. Anderson and John H. Romani, “Environmental Views in Estonia on the Eve of Independence: Perceptions of the Seriousness of Ecological Pollution as a Social Problem,” a paper presented at the Conference on Population and the Environment in Developed Countries, Rome, 28–29 October 1996, which appeared as University of Michigan Population Studies Center Research Report No. 97-400; Barbara A. Anderson and Rein Voormann, “Women and Equality of the Sexes in Estonia,” International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1996, pp. 76–95.

9. See Raun, Estonia and the Estonians and Anderson and Romani, “Environmental Views in Estonia.”

10. Estonia, Estonian Human Development Report (Tallinn: United Nations Development Program, 1995), p. 20.

11. Estonia, Keskkond 1993/Estonian Environment (Tallinn: Ministry of the Environment, 1993).

12. For each of these questions people could reply they were very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. Figure 4 shows the percentage of members of each of the eight groups who stated that they were either somewhat satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, with their housing, with public medical care, and with primary and secondary schools.

13. For each of these questions people were asked if they agreed strongly, agreed somewhat, disagreed somewhat, or disagreed strongly. Figure 5 shows the percentage who agreed strongly or agreed somewhat.

14. World Bank, Estonia: Implementing the EU Accession Agenda (Washington: World Bank, 1999).

15. See Estonian Commission on Sustainable Development, Estonian National Report on Sustainable Development 2002 (Tallinn, 2002); Institute of International and Social Studies, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Estonian Human Development Report 2001 (Tallinn, 2001); Open Society Institute, Minority Protection in Estonia: An Assessment of the Programme Integration in Estonian Society 2000–2007 (Washington: Open Society Institute, 2002).