This ground-breaking book deals with the effects of the transformation towards a market economy on the rural societies of Central and Eastern Europe. Within the framework of the overall situation of rural communities, special attention is given to the consequences of the break-up of socialist patterns of agriculture and the prospects for private farming. Rural societies in Central and Eastern Europe are suffering a three-pronged attack from marketization: loss of local non-agricultural jobs, loss of agricultural jobs and loss of urban jobs for commuting workers. The choices that confront the rural population are stark. Either they succeed as family farmers, self-employed craftsmen or in small businesses, or they fail and retreat to subsistence agriculture. Only a minority will find employment in large industrial or service companies. Rural Transformation in Central Europe considers how these choices are made, who makes which choices, why some succeed and others fail, what interest groups are formed, and how political interests are articulated. Based on background papers on the economic, legal, political, and social context of rural transformations and on interviews conducted in villages in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, this highly original study should appeal to all those interested in the problems of transformation in Central and Eastern Europe.