A critical-realist view of housing quality within the post-communist EU states: progressing towards a middle-range explanation

Soaita, A. M. and Dewilde, C. (2019) A critical-realist view of housing quality within the post-communist EU states: progressing towards a middle-range explanation. Housing, Theory and Society, 36(1), pp. 44-75. (doi: 10.1080/14036096.2017.1383934)

Abstract

Employing a long-term perspective, we explore whether ideologically rooted quality outcomes of housing provision under communism have persisted during the post-communist construction of housing markets. Drawing on theories of path-dependent change, we hypothesize that patterns of housing quality still reflect past lines of division, namely the Soviet housing model, and the classical and reformist models of the Eastern Bloc. Using a critical-realist approach to housing quality, we relate households’ experiences to key underlying structures; this ontological depth is then operationalized by means of micro- and macro-indicators used as input for hierarchical cluster analyses. Findings support our main hypothesis, yet there is more diversity in households’ experiences than initially assumed. Our study advances a valuable middle-range epistemological frame for understanding the complex social reality of housing and helps shatter the growing view that communist housing systems were all too similar.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was funded by H2020 European Research Council Starting Grant Agreement No. 283615, project “HOWCOME: Changing Housing Regimes and Trends in Social and Economic Inequality”.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Soaita, Dr Adriana Mihaela
• Authors: Soaita, A. M., and Dewilde, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Housing, Theory and Society
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1403-6096
• ISSN (Online): 1651-2278
• Published Online: 25 October 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Housing, Theory and Society 36(1): 44-75
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License