Szociológiai figyelő 1991/2. [antikvár]

CHANGES IN SOCIAL MOBILITY IN HUNGARY, 1962-1983 (Abstract) Three national social mobility surveys were performed in Hungary in 1962-1964, 1973 and 1983. Over these 21 years the Hungarian economy and society changed considerably. This paper analyses by the I. S. A. paradigm and by log-linear analysis, the kinds of changes which occured in intergenerational social mobility. In addition to the usual father-son and father-daughter tables for all earners, tables for 25-29 year old earners are also examined. In contradiction to earlier predictions and to widespread public opinion in Hungary, no overall shift toward a less open society occurred. On the other hand some important changes of intergenerational mobility can be observed, first of all in the social mobility of peasants (in this respect openness increased), and in the social mobility of unskilled workers and professional men (here the signs of an initial closure can be observed). CHANGES IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS Since the first half of the 1960's the Hungarian economy has achieved considerable growth: in 1985 the index of national income was 281 as compared to 100 in 1960. A period of especially rapid growth followed the introduction of economic reform in 1968, but this growth has slowed down since 1978 (in 1985 it was only 5 per cent higher than in 1978). The real wage level of workers and employees slightly declined in this period. These changes were caused - in addition to the changes in the world economy which were disadvantageous for Hungary - by the fact that around the mid-1960's manpower reserves (partly in the underemployed agricultural population and partly among housewives) were almost exhausted, so that the growth of the economy could no longer be based on the expansion of employed manpower, but instead came to depend almost completely on increased productivity and efficiency. The introduction of the first economic reforms in 1968 should be interpreted as a response to this new situation. In scientific literature in Hungary this change has been described as the "transition from extensive growth to the conditions of inten- 5