How Do Communist Education and Social Mobility Affect Public Dispositions to Structural Reforms?

• In Event: Shaping Minds, Securing Power: State-Directed Education and Cultural Hegemony in Eurasia

Abstract

This paper examines the role of educational legacies of communism in shaping preferences for market institutions, democracy, and spending priorities in post-communist Europe and Central Asia. Using data from the 2023 round of the Life in Transition Survey, the analysis finds that individuals with better-educated mothers have a greater tendency to support market reforms and democracy. The impact of parental education on trust in market institutions and democratic preferences is more pronounced in countries with longer communist histories and higher levels of human capital.

Author

• Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, King's College London (UK)