Facing transition in rural Hungary - a case study of an agricultural Village

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyse the socioeconomic processes of restructuring and transition that have arisen in rural Hungary. The analysis is done with the case study of an agricultural village, Hunya, which is located on the Hungarian Great Plain.

Restructuring is analysed from historical and geographical perspectives in order to explain the starting points for transition today. The most significant socioeconomic processes of socialism which decisively affected rural development and adjustment were the collectivization of agriculture and the NEM policy. The processes of socialism created the bases for the rural areas to transform after the collapse of the old social system. The study concentrates on the impact the transition has on the village as a resource community on the one hand, and on the other hand on the reactions its households have had towards the changes. The analysis is focused according to the multicausal and articulation theories especially on external and internal forces which have affected local development. The analysis proceeds to outline the everyday survival of people during the present-day transition in rural Hungary.