Márton Péti (p), Zsombor Csata, Gyöngyi Schwarcz, Mátyás Borbély

Yael Shmaryahu- Yeshurun

This study introduces the first comprehensive and representative survey on the socioeconomic position of ethnic minority Hungarian communities. Collecting data was implemented along a standardized methodology in Hungary as well as in the four biggest Hungarian minority communities; among Hungarians living in Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, and Serbia (these communities in the so called ’Carpathian Basin’ form one of the largest native minority groups in Europe). Socioeconomic position was approached along a wellbeing concept encompassing features as labour market position, income, education, health status, language skills, social trust, social bonds, religiosity, etc. Summarizing the results, it is important to highlight that there is a positive correlation between EU membership and the quality of life: in Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, the general well-being indicators are higher, while in Serbia, and especially in Transcarpathia (Ukraine), the living conditions are significantly worse. It is also clear that the population of Hungary is generally in a more favourable situation than the minority Hungarians. However, the survey also detected a quite diverse socioeconomic structure, and in the case of some parameters of wellbeing, one of the Hungarian minority communities has the leading position. Relative positions of minority Hungarians comparing to majority population also vary according to countries and factors.

Nóra Baranyi (p)

Márton Péti

In the 20th century, as a consequence of the disintegration of large empires and peace treaties, several ethnic groups became minorities in the territories of the newly established small states. After the forty-year period of state socialism, by the last years of the era there were significant political and social movements that started a new epoch of self-organisation in the Central and Eastern European region. There were political movements based on national identity endeavouring to become independent and to redraw the borders within the region, and some of them were successful in creating new nation states (bringing more and more communities into minority status), while others attempted to achieve personal and /or territorial autonomy within the given country.
Some of the minority groups lives territorially concentrated in a specific region or along the border. Although these so-called ethnoregional communities may differ significantly based on their population and regional proportions, they form a specific group of ethnic minorities. Organizations representing these communities are ethnoregional parties working “(…) for the reorganization of the power structure of the national political system, for a certain degree of self-government for the region” (De Winter 2001:4).
Ethnoregional parties can be classified in several ways (eg. ideology, electoral success, level of operation), classification based on definitive features, namely the concept on the way and method to reorganise the national state, is one of the possible solutions. Bugajski developed a typology (Bugajski 1993) valid for the Central and Eastern European ethnic politics (cultural revivalism, political autonomism, territorial self-determism, separatism and irredentism), however, due to the long time that has elapsed since then, it needs to be reviewed. After the transition several organisation disappeared (in rare cases due to achieving objectives) or replaced by another parties, new identities awakened or entered another phase of ethnic politics. This presentation summarizes the results of a research, which had the aim to create a new typology of ethnoregional parties in Central and Eastern Europe.

Mátyás Borbély (p)

Nóra Baranyai

In the post-socialist states of East-Central Europe, the decades after the collapse of the socialist systems were accompanied not only by a general improvement in living conditions, but also by increasing social and territorial inequalities. Rising inequalities tend to affect such vulnerable social groups like ethnic minorities even stronger. In the countries neighbouring Hungary, there are approximately 2.1 million residents who are Hungarian by nationality or mother tongue. In their case, the possibility of an unequal (re)distribution of wealth also arises. Although, it can be assumed that significant territorial differences can be also observed in the social positions of the Hungarian minorities. Therefore, it is especially worth examining the socio-economic situation of Hungarian minorities, their relative positions in majority societies, as well as its territorial patterns. According to many theoretical concepts and empirical studies, one of the basic indicators of social position is educational attainment. Therefore, the social positions of the Hungarian minorities can be more or less presented by analysing the educational positions of these communities. Despite the importance of the topic, there is limited information about the educational positions of Hungarian minorities and their changes during the millenial decades. Due to this lack of information, this research aimed to examine the topic, and answer the question of how the relative educational positions of the Hungarian minorities evolved during the millennial decades, based on the proportion of graduates. The results of the research confirm the hypothesis that the educational positions of the Hungarian minorities were fundamentally worse than that of non-Hungarians throughout the whole examined period. Although the proportion of graduates in the Hungarian population has increased in all the examined regions, the relative position of Hungarians has weakened in almost everywhere.

Yael Shmaryahu- Yeshurun (p)

Mátyás Borbély

The dominant stream of political geography research links ethnic or racial marginalization and class-based marginalization resulting from redevelopment planning, presented sometimes as gentrification. This study presents a new phenomenon of “Minority gentrification:” gentrification led by the minority -Arab entrepreneurs and business owners in the contested city of Acre in Israel, which challenges the dominant research narrative and emphasizes the complexity of the relationship between class and ethno-national identity. Based on a qualitative research method that included in-depth interviews with Arab business owners and lower-income tenants, and analysis of policy documents and press articles, this study offers the term “stratified marginalization” to describe the relative advantage of Arab and business owners over lower-income Arab tenants. Simultaneously, it describes the trap in which they find themselves between their ethno-national and class identities and the explanations they provide for the gentrification process. Finally, the study describes the tension between Arabs from different classes as a result of gentrification. The research findings contribute to addressing questions of ethno-national and class identities, urban redevelopment in minorities neighborhoods. It also contributes to a re-evaluation of class and ethno-nationalism intersectionality in a way that recognizes the benefits of gentrification for the middle-class ethnic entrepreneurs on the one hand, and the multiple margins of the lower-class ethnic tenants on the other.