After the Velvet Revolutions: Altered Life-Chances, Fragile Legitimacy, and Split-Consciousness in Post-Communist Eastern Europe

This article deals with (i) changes in the objective and subjective life-chances of people in Eastern Europe as affected by the transformation of their economic and political systems, and (ii) the emergence of a new dominant meritocratic ideology of distributive justice and the survival of a now old subordinate egalitarian one. We investigate whether, and if so, how and to what degree, changes in people's (perceived) life-chances influence their (de)legitimation of the market economy and the pluralistic system of democracy as well as their (de/re)legitimation of the ancien regime. Especially, the question of whether, and if so, how and under which conditions, a phenomenon that has been called "split-consciousness" will occur with respect to people's choices between those opposing systems is answered. Several hypotheses are presented that deal with the above mentioned topics. The hypotheses are tested empirically by using cross-national data stemming from the International Social Justice Project. © 1998 Plenum Publishing Corporation.