Economic and Political Man. Hardship and Attitudes in the Czech Republic and Central Europe

The interconnection between economic hardship and political attitudes is analyzed in four East-Central European countries. Two explanatory keys to recent left-turns – the “relative deprivation” and “entitlements” theses – are examined. Financial difficulties and paternalistic expectations are high but differ from country to country, this resulting in their various locations on the leftright spectrum. Evaluating the connections leading from perceived economic insecurity to latent participation in demonstrations, no compact causality appears which would allow hypotheses on the direct consequences of households’ hardships on the latent questioning of the regime. A model is used to confirm important country specificities and change over time in translating the feeling of insecurity into leftist and authoritarian attitudes.