"Rural area in Eastern Europe, between reconstruction and dissolution". Special issue of the journal Sociologie Românească (Romanian Sociology)

Place of publication: Bucharest, Romania

Type of publication: print and online

Publication date: July 2012

Published by/ edited by: Romanian Sociological Association, in collaboration with European Institute Romania

Topics: Large parts of Eastern European population lives in rural areas, which have an obvious developmental deficit compared to the cities. The sociological and anthropological literature on this issue is far from providing a consistent view of rural specificity and its possible developments. May the return to small peasant property be interpreted in the logic of social action of reconstruction of the peasantry? What are the dimensions of such a reconstruction? Are we witnessing the emergence of a “new rural” as in Western Europe, emergence that signified "the end of the peasantry"? How to build the “new rural”? Which areas will disappear and which are capable of survival, adaptability and modernization? How to harmonise the current EU legislation with the subsistence economy that is still in place in rural Eastern Europe? What are the important economic dimensions currently configured in rural areas? Can we still speak of a specific village culture? Is the concept of traditional culture out of date and nostalgic? Is the concept of rural sociability also out of date? Individualism and associativity are now dominant in Eastern European villages? These are just a few possible topics for a debate on current Eastern European rural areas. The special issue of Romanian Sociology (2/2012) will host the works that wish to contribute by clarifying these issues, building explanatory perspectives and outlining trends. We invite to this debate sociologists, anthropologists, historians which can provide either quantitative or qualitative, either synchronous or diachronic approaches.

Deadline: April 10, 2012.
Contact: Guest editor Gheorghe Șișeștean, University of Oradea, Romania

E-mail: g_sisestean@yahoo.fr, sociologieromaneasca@arsociologie.ro
Internet: http://www.arsociologie.ro/en/romaniansociology