Social Exclusion and Mental Wellbeing in Older Romanians

In Romania, inequalities in health and wellbeing between younger and older Romanians are substantial, and an important reason for inequalities may be the higher risk of social exclusion among older adults. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the many transformations in economic structures and welfare regimes contributed to enhanced levels of social exclusion, in particular among the older generations. Social exclusion is a multidimensional problem with substantial effects on the mental wellbeing of people. The present study examines age differences in mental wellbeing and evaluates to what extent differences can be explained by age and social exclusion, while controlling for a number of potential confounders. Data are from the fourth wave (2016) of the European Quality of Life Survey. Data for Romania include 1004 people aged between 18 and 85 years old, of which 726 are included in the analyses (only complete cases). In the study sample, 259 were 55 years or older. Mental wellbeing was measured with The World Health Organization Wellbeing Index (WHO-5 scale), and social exclusion was measured in four domains: social relations, material resources, services and the neighbourhood. The results show that older Romanians have a statistically significant lower mental wellbeing than younger generations in Romania. All domains of social exclusion were associated with lower levels of mental wellbeing. These effects remained statistically significant after controlling for partner status, chronic diseases, having children, and level of education. Improving mental wellbeing of older Romanians would greatly benefit from increasing social inclusion by means of social transfers provided by the government, improving the neighbourhood and access to services, and providing facilities to enhance the social network

Corruption in Romania : first steps towards a grounded theory of corruption

The first years of transition in Romania have been characterised by an escalation of corruption which largely remained unacknowledged at the social level in a time of rapid economic and social deterioration. Only the late 90 s brought the problem of corruption to public agenda as the media began to reveal some cases of grand corruption and in relation to the process of integration of the country in the European Union. A strong discourse about corruption emerged starting with 2000, which pushed into shadow the more classical and visible social problems of transition like poverty, unemployment, or issues related to the consolidation of democracy.This paper is an endeavour to illustrate the way corruption is perceived in Romania and the argumentative patterns that result from various discourses on the phenomenon. The aim is to analyse the perceptions towards corruption of those groups which have important roles in targeting corruption in society: politics, media, civil society, economy, judiciary and police

On the Nature and Causes of Corruption in RomaniaEvidence From a Grounded Theory Approach

Crime as a Cultural Problem. The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention. A Comparative Cultural Study in the EU-Accession States Bulgaria and Romania, the EU-Candidate States Turkey and Croatia and the EU-States Germany, Greece and United Kingdo

Opportunities for Local Development in Jiului Valley"

This was an exploratory study that aimed to gain a rough understanding of the possible ways of implementing community development. The study was carried out between October 1998 and August 1999 in Lupeni, in the Jiu Valley, which is a mining area facing major decline following the government's decision to restructure the mining industry. Against a background of the history of sociology and its insights into the development of the community concept and its theoretical, methodological and practical significance, an analysis was carried out on four levels relevant to the community development approach: social participation, citizens' level of dependency on the state, and membership and the sense of belonging to the local and national community. A needs analysis approach using questionnaires, in-depth interviews and the Delphi approach took into consideration all those actors who could play important roles in local development: local authorities, representatives of local organisations (schools, trade unions, local associations, churches), and local residents

Patterns of Perceptions Towards the Anticorruption Fight in Romania

Crime as a Cultural Problem. The Relevance of Perceptions of Corruption to Crime Prevention. A Comparative Cultural Study in the EU-Accession States Bulgaria and Romania, the EU-Candidate States Turkey and Croatia and the EU-States Germany, Greece and United Kingdo

Having the Next Generation in Mind: Housing Pathways of Older Homeowners in a Romanian Rural Community

In this paper we set out to understand the housing pathways of older people who live in precarious prosperity in rural Romania. The stratum of precarious prosperity (Budowski et al. 2010) is a rather invisible and heterogenous social category whose household strategies and biographies are particularly understudied. Our purpose is to describe and explain micro-events in the housing histories of older Romanians belonging to this stratum and to understand agency in housing strategies in time and space. The data we use comes from a qualitative panel study conducted in a rural community in Romania. The results show that the housing pathways available to older people in the village studied are strongly embedded in family ties, intergenerational support, and co-residence housing strategies, as well as in housing policies that provide inadequate institutional support for meeting housing standards and increasing the quality of housing