Social Care under State Socialism (1945-1989): Ambitions, Ambiguities, and Mismanagement

by Sabine Hering (Editor)

In the period of State Socialism in Eastern Europe (1945- 1989) Social Welfare was exercised on two The dominant level was the system of governmental Social Policy, because individual and private structures of so - cial help were considered as a dispensable bourgeois tradition. According to this perception, social welfare should include an extensive system of support and social services, although, in reality, special groups of ´´asocials´´ and ´´parasites´´ were excluded. Although - except for Yugoslavia - social work as a profession was nearly totally eliminated, modulated forms of social care had to be provided, because people like handicapped, elderly or mentally disabled still were in need. There - fore, Social Care was realised on a subordinated level - mostly allocated to proximate vocations or organisations like teachers, nurses and mass organisations. Experts from the respective countries explain what it was like. Countries under Bulgaria, Czechoslowakia, GDR, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia

Kindle Edition

Published June 17, 2009