Dumitru Otovescu

Romanians’ Self-Perception and the Evaluation of their Living Conditions

Abstract: This article presents the opinions and the appreciations of the Romanians concerning their life in the nowadays society, it reveals the results of a field sociological research. There are brought forward the main dissatisfactions of the population and it is sketched the psychology of the individual suffering. The general conclusion is that, although the Romanians have a hard life, they are optimistic regarding their future. 

Key words: unemployment, poverty, the population’s dissatisfactions, Romanian character, the psychology of suffering 

1. Introduction

From 1990 and until the present days, the Romanian society has registered radical changes in a rapid rhythm, these changes being generated by the transition process from communism to capitalism, an unprecedented process in the history of humanity that was experienced by nine former communist countries from Europe, among which Romania was too, countries that freed themselves from the tyranny of the totalitarian politic regimes. Besides the difficulties inherent for the complex processes of economic, social and institutional change, there were also registered consequences of the world economic depression that affected profoundly the living standard of the Romanian citizens. (Details in Otovescu A., Motoi G., Frăsie M.C., and Otovescu D., 2001, p. 123-152 and 182-192)

Next, we intend to try to make a short characterization of Romanians, by unravelling some opinions and appreciations of theirs regarding their lives in the actual society. The data that we are going to present below were obtained both from official statistic sources and after a field research that was realized through a poll, with the help of a questionnaire. This was filled in face to face by 400 people, selected through random samples, with the domicile in the urban area. The sociologic research was made under the aegis of Oltenia Social Institute of the University from Craiova.

2. The economic-social context of the population’s dissatisfaction 

Once with the starting of the world economic crisis and its virulent manifestation in the Romanian society, starting with 2009, many companies became bankrupted, fact that supplied the unemployment phenomenon, especially among the manpower from the private sector. Approximately a million Romanians, from the almost five million who were employed (with or without a labour contract), became jobless, while the rest of the working population was living, most of it, with the minimum wage, of about 157 euro, in 2011, fact that situated our country on the 26^th place from the 27 states members of the European Union, “as concerning the value of the minimum wage”. (Otovescu A., et.al., 2001, p. 141-142). The poll that we made evidenced that 50.1% from the people who worked “had a secure job, but a low salary, as confronted to their needs”, as coming from the questioned subjects.

A poll made in June and July 2009, requested by the World Bank, in 1,686 companies from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia, evidenced that “our country had the highest share (17.6%) of closed companies in 2008 and 2009, after the economic crisis”. (Otovescu A., et.al., 2001, p. 130). The official statistic data attest that “127,129 companies from Romania (from almost 907,000 – A/N) suspended their activity during January-November 2009, as comparing to 2008, when there had been registered only 10,901 such cases, resulting a growth of 1066.2%”. (Otovescu A., et.al., 2001, p 130). Moreover, the investments stagnated and the psychological climate of the business environment was dominated by mistrust, excessive prudence and weak hopes with regard to the improvement of the economic situation.

The field search evidenced that in such disconcerting situation, the main discontents of the population, in general, and of the interviewed citizen, in particular, were connected to the fact that:

1)    The small income did not pay off the individual and family expenses (appreciated 70.1% from the total number of the questioned people);

2)    A part of the employees lost their jobs and did not succeed to get employed at other economic agents (11.9%);

3)    The personal diseases obliged them to treatments that they could not afford, due to the lack of money or health insurance policies (4.8%);

4)    The national situation was uncertain because of a government that did not seem to care about the faith of its own citizens (3.6%) and that did not demonstrate that it had solutions for the situation of crisis experienced by the Romanian society;

5)    Almost 15% of the investigated population appreciated that they came to the degree of poverty and loss of hope to return to a more decent living standard. In the rural area, the share of the poor population was even higher and the development of the agriculture has continued to remain a problem for which the solution could be in the future.

The unemployment and the poverty affected the right to work and education of the Romanian citizens, the right to a normal family life (Otovescu-Frăsie C., 2009 p. 30-31) and the quality of the relations between people. Many young people left abroad for working and in Romania became characteristic the phenomenon of emigration for working abroad, of no historic precedent (Otovescu A., 2013, p. 60-71), although the European labour market was also registering major disequilibrium. Some countries as Greece and Spain reached record numbers of the unemployment rate – of over 25% from the total number of population (Motoi (Ilie), G., 2010, p. 89-92)

3. Romanians experience hard times, but they are optimistic

Although dissatisfied with their working social conditions, yet, the Romanians preserved a preponderantly optimistic attitude, in relation with their future. After an international poll, realized by Gallup Institute in 2011, on the population from 155 countries around the world resulted that 56% self-evaluated as being unhappy, 23% as suffering and 21% considered themselves happy (Gallup World  Poll, 2011). From our research, it resulted that 81.2% from the total number of subjects generally have “an optimistic character, trust people and live with the hope that they will accomplish their goals”, while the rest of 18.8% self-appreciated as being “a pessimistic character, do not trust people and do not live with the hope to reach their goals”. The positive dominant of the Romanians’ psychology can be explained both through the previous personal accomplishments and through their characteristic intelligence that allowed them to survive throughout all the difficult historic moments of their evolution as a people and national community, but also though the way they regard the living, as based on work and action for solving the problems. In this respect, the answers to the question: Up until now, has your life been rather full of…?, are evident.

It can be noticed that almost three quarters from the respondents considered that their life was put under the sign of success, among which, the most important that they mentioned, after the answers to another question, were “fulfilled family life” (40.8%), “the professional success” (28.8%) and “the good general health condition” (75.9%). As confronted to the positive dimension of the Romanians’ psychology, there is the negative dimension that it is placed under the sign of failure and suffering. Therefore, the questioned people evidenced that “the greatest pain or suffering” that they had previously had are related to the “passing away of a beloved person” (parents, husband/wife, brother/sister, friends, children, colleagues – indicated by 32.2%), by “family misunderstanding or arguments” (11.6%), “the loss of the job” (10.7%) and “the sickening with a serious disease” (5.9%). Over 27% of the investigated people confessed that the endured suffering affected their personal life, their efficiency in work and their behaviour in relation with the other people. Thus, 41.4% underlined that they became emotionally unstable, 12.5% showed that the endured suffering led to the diminishing of their living standard, 10.7% noticed a reduction of their working efficiency and 8.9% said that they became estranged, isolated from the other members of the family and from the working colleagues.

The knowledge of the individual suffering psychology is necessary from the sociologic point of view, because it helps us not only to enter into the intimacy of the human being, but especially to decipher the social impact, the consequences of the dramatic personal experiences on the people’s collective life. Such a field, which deals with the research of the relations between individual and community in difficult situations of our emotional equilibrium, constitutes a major challenge of the contemporary sociology. Generally, the actual sociological researches are preoccupied with the examining of the human as a social being, with the analysis of the way in which he fulfils his statuses and social roles, with the evaluation of the individual’s integration process into the society throughout the fulfilment of the moral, family, professional etc. duties and responsibilities and less with the penetration into his inner universe that is, of course, linked with an indissoluble connection by his own social universe.

References

Gallup World  Poll, 2011, available on  http://www.gallup.com

Otovescu A., Gabriela Motoi, Maria-Cristina Frăsie, D.Otovescu, Criza mondială, Editura Prouniversitaria, Bucharest, 2001, p. 123-152 and 182-192

Otovescu A., Conservarea identităţii culturale în mediile în imigranţi români din Europa, Chap. II, Editura Muzeului Naţional al Literaturii Române, Bucharest, 2013, p. 60-71

Otovescu-Frăsie C., Drepturile omului în societatea contemporană, Editura Scrisul Românesc, Craiova, 2009 p. 30-31

Motoi (Ilie) G., Piața muncii din Europa în contextul crizei mondiale si impactul asupra tinerilor, in Revista de Stiinte Politice, No.28/2010, Editura Universitaria, Craiova, p. 89-92

Material publicat în Indian Journal Of Applied Research, Volume : 3 | Issue : 10 | Oct 2013 | ISSN – 2249-555X

THE NATURE OF THE INTER-HUMAN RELATIONS IN THE URBAN AREA

Abstract: There are analyzed the inter-human relations from two cities of Romania, according to a poll made among 1000 dwellers, which revealed the significations born by the relations from a family, between colleagues, relatives, friends or neighbours. The field research was preceded by conceptual explanations and the displaying of some sociological theories. 

Key words: normal social relations, pathological social relations, theoretical-sociological patterns, human capital

1. Theoretical-methodological specifications

                        The fact that the society represents a totality of relations between humans constitutes an axiomatic statement in the sociological thinking. The main types of inter-human relations are the interpersonal relations, the inter-groups relations and the relations between the institutions specific to a national society. The essence of the human society is determined by the nature of the inter-human relations that can be either good, functional (if they rely on communication, cooperation, solidarity) or bad, dysfunctional (if they are of opposition, disagreement or conflict).

The present approach is supported by the premise that the general development of a territorial community is dependent, in a great extent, on the nature of the relations between its members. In this respect, we have formulated the next hypothesis: the more the solidarity relations between the dwellers of the same city are increasingly active and stronger, the more the chances for progress of that collectivity are higher.

The pursued objective was that to diagnose the actual condition in which the relations between humans functions in two urban communities from Romania, with the purpose of correcting or solving the eventual dysfunctional or pathological manifestations.

The concrete data were gathered through a poll, based on a questionnaire (filled in by the students in sociology from The University from Craiova), among the over 18 years old population, who lives in two cities from Romania: Craiova (almost 300.000 people, one of the large cities) and Drobeta Turnu-Severin (approximately 100.000 dwellers, a middle-sized city). The sample included 1000 subjects from the both cities, from all the socio-professional categories and was established randomly, being the probable and stratified type.

2. The normality and the pathology of the inter-human relations 

Due to the fact that the history of the human becoming did not register societies inhabited by saints, this means that the social relations have known both normal and altered forms of manifestation. In the classic and contemporary sociology there are several criteria and theories that explain the distinction between normality and morbidity along the social relations. We are going to present a classical theory, that of Emile Durkheim and a contemporary one, that of J. H. Fichter.

a)    The conception of the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. He considered the public conscience the fundamental factor that ensures the unity, the cohesion in a society and he defined the normality of a social fact through the attribute of its generality. It results that abnormal are those phenomena with restricted character and those that break the moral and juridical norms accepted by society (such are the family, professional or working duties etc.)

b)    The conception of the American sociologist J.H. Fichter. The thinker “identified the normal way of life in a society with the process of cooperation between humans, with the solidarity between people and social groups. He considered the processes of opposition and conflict as abnormal, because they affect the maintaining and the continuity of groups and societies” [1].

In sociology we can meet two important patterns of researching the social relations that are specific to the global societies: the equilibrium pattern and the conflict pattern. The last one originates in the socio-political Marxist conception, according to which the permanent character of the fight between the main social classes, with fundamental opposed interests, from the slave-owning, feudal and capitalist systems. From here, it emerges the later sociological formulation of the postulate that “the tensions and the divergences, especially of interest, the fight for power and economic advantages have permanent character and are stronger than the tendencies of harmony and equilibrium of the society” [2]. The equilibrium pattern belongs to the functionalist sociology. A celebre promoter of this was the American sociologist Talcott Parsons, who accentuated the harmony and the equilibrium of the internal relation, on their unperturbed functioning in the analysis of the social system, in order not to affect the social order and, implicitly, perturb the community on the whole.

3. The diagnosis of the inter-human relations 

            The analysis of the relations between humans, in the two mentioned cities, was made through the measuring of their opinion, expressed through the answers to the questions of the questionnaire.

a) The general evaluation evidences that approximately two third of the questioned individuals (1000 subjects) considered that the relations between people in their city are “of indifference, maliciousness, each of them fighting for their own interests” and 21% on the dweller from Craiova and 38% of those from Turnu-Severin appreciated them as being “of collaboration, support, based on respect”. In the opinion of 78% of the inhabitants from Craiova and 86% of Turnu-Severin, the nowadays people are “meaner, more selfish, do not offer help in need”; only 11% of the individuals from Drobeta Turnu-Severin and 16% of those from Craiova expressed positive opinions. Among “the good, generous and solidary” people were mentioned, in Craiova, those who belong to the next socio-professional categories: of doctors (sustained by 36.1% of the total number of the interviewed people), priests (18.1%), teachers (11.1%), workers (9.7%) and peasants (9.7%). The same five categories of good people were also indicated by the dwellers from Drobeta Turnu-Severin, but in another hierarchic order. We must keep in mind that almost three quarters of the questioned subjects are preoccupied by the faith of other people (other 20-25% are concerned only by their own person and family) and confessed their availability to offer help to someone in need.

b) The analytical evaluation of the inter-human relations aimed the concrete relations in which people are usually engaged: the family and kindred relationships; the collegial and working relations; the neighbourhood and friendship relations. For 63% of the questioned ones, the relationships with the husband/wife are “good and very good”, for 7% from Drobeta Turnu-Severin and 12% from Craiova are “satisfactory” and “tight, of conflict”, uncommunicative, are indicated by under 3% of the citizens. Furthermore, over 70% of the parents evaluated as being “good and very good” or “satisfactory” the relations with their children (only 1.5% of the inhabitants from Craiova and 0.8% of those from Drobeta Turnu-Severin attributed to them dysfunctional meanings). At their jobs, the collegial relations are appreciated in a positive way of over 70% from the interviewed ones; over 90% of them are in good, very good and satisfactory relations with their relatives from their extended family and, in the same percentage, with their neighbours and friends. All these percents mentioned above confirm the hypothesis of our study, demonstrating the existence of a preponderantly unitary human capital.

4. Conclusions and proposals 

            a) The broad appreciation of the human relations from the same city has generally pathological meanings, because the general psychological climate is perceived through some negative moral features, being in disagreement with the meaning of the concrete social relations. Moreover, the Romanian society is presently constituting a capitalist social environment that, through its essence, cultivates the individualism and the competitive relations;

b) The relations in which people are frequently trained and depend on meeting their direct material and affective needs, on keeping their social identity (family, job, group of friends and neighbourhood etc.) are, on the other side, evaluated in positive shades and attest that they function as a capital of community cohesion, maintaining the cooperation and the solidarity of the dwellers. As long as the people are connected through marriage, kinship, collegiality, neighbourhood and these appear as normal, functional for most of the people, it means that there is a solid support for the development of the urban community structures that the public institutions can render valuable for elaborating some social policies;

c) The improvement of the process of education for young people and all the other social groups, through the systematic promotion of the spirit of understanding between people and the permanent mediation of the conflict relations, though awarding chance equality to all the individuals, though the cultivation of an affective-moral fund and of the sensibility, the responsibility towards the destinies of the entire community, though the interiorization of the values that ensure the peaceful living together. Education must be connected with a prosperous economic environment, capable to attenuate the unemployment and poverty phenomena (that represent the source of some intergroup conflicts and community disequilibrium).

Material publicat în International Journal of Scientific Research, Volume: 2 | Issue: 8 | August 2013 • ISSN No 2277 – 8179

Ce înseamnă să fii sociolog?

Piaţa muncii – între nevoile angajatorilor şi aşteptările şomerilor

Aceste cercetări au fost realizate în cadrul proiectului “Munca pe primul loc” (POSDRU, Axa 5, DMI 5.1.), implementat de către Asociaţia “Şanse Egale pentru Fiecare” (ASEF) din Craiova, în parteneriat cu Tinguely International Bv din Olanda, cu Universitatea din Craiova – Facultatea de Ştiinţe Sociale (reprezentată prin prof. univ. dr. Dumitru Otovescu) şi cu Institutul Social Oltenia al Universităţii din Craiova (reprezentat prin lect. univ. dr. Adrian Otovescu). La derularea şi finalizarea cercetărilor a luat parte şi lect. univ. dr. Gabriel Pricină. Proiectul a început acum doi ani şi se încheie în ianuarie anul viitor, iar până acum a mai fost publicată o carte – «Piaţa forţei de muncă – regiunea SV Oltenia». Mai jos redăm, în rezumat, concluziile studiului realizat în mod profesionist şi care vine atât în sprijinul şomerilor, cât şi al angajatorilor, în încercarea de a înţelege mai bine piaţa muncii.

Societatea contemporană este guvernată de două forţe: informaţia – care ţine de comunicarea între oameni şi între instituţii – şi energia – care este strâns legată de valoarea unei economii naţionale.

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