Young people and their leisure in former communist countries : four theses examined

This paper interrogates four theses against data from 1997 surveys among a total of 900 young people in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine. Three of the theses - that post-communist youth at leisure are divided primarily by their various (postmodern) youth cultures, immiseration, and that money has become the main stratifying factor - are rejected. The fourth, that traditional gender and social class divisions are surviving, is endorsed. It is argued that, up to the time of the surveys in 1997, the main gender differences were persisting, and the main social strata formed under communism were enduring as status groups. In the longer-term it is argued that the latter groups may either be eroded gradually by continuing economic crises, or, if the reforms succeed, reconstituted as new socioeconomic classes.