The social and economic transition process from Romania reached in 1997 the stage when differences in wealth and income relate to social class position and a relative homogeneity of social strata regarding the possession of capital can be depicted. Using the tools of statistical analysis, Veres Valér investigates the tendencies of social stratification among the Hunungarians from Romania and its determinants. The author applies the Erickson-n-Goldthorpe model, having in view theories of capital conversion as well. The study reveals a considerable correlation between social status and the extent of the social network of the individuals. Generally speaking, the density of the social network is higher among the middle classes and the intellectuals, whereas the elite (those occupying leadership positions) prefer rather the week ties.

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In Romania, the political leaders of the Roma community and the main actors from civil organizations face a particular situation. The legitimization of their leadership position ought to come neither from Roma population, nor from the non-n-Roma, but from the political elite of the majority-state who might accept or reject them as partners of political dialogue, as legitimate representatives of the Roma population. The Romanian political actors decide who or whose circle will be considered the legitimate delegate of the Roma, their attitude constituting the major determinant of the Roma elite configuration. Roma issues are thus defined from above, by outsiders who circumscribe the social space at the disposal of Roma leaders, mark their public discourse and delimit the area of their initiatives. The study of Geambaşuşu Réka sheds light on this subject by presenting the case of Cluj.

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The study of poverty and its urban manifestations gains more and more importance in the transition period. Due to the official constraints regarding the choice of the workplace and the residence duduring state-socialism, phenomena of residential segregation were much seldom in Romania than in Western societies. After 1989, a considerable proportion of the houses stock became suddenly private poverty; consequently, the housing market started to function as a real market, after the rules of demand and offer. In the same time, the social and economic changes led to a general decay of the living standards and to an increase of the number of those living under the poverty line. The joint effects of the impoverishment of the population, the precarious social protection, and the liberalization of the housing market became manifest in the accentuation of residential segregation. Poverty cannot be treated any longer only as a statistically circumscribed category, it ought to be analyzed in relation with the local segregational phenomena, paying attention to territorial aspects as well. In her present work, Pásztor Gyöngyi investigates how the segregation process took place in Cluj, determining the appearance of slum areas.

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The social and economic changes following the political turn from 1989 led to the appearance of specific forms of poverty in Eastern Europe, thus in Romania as well. Some categories became the losers of transition, being regarded as the new poor by the mainstream sociological literature. Péter László's stududy reveals that the survival strategies operational before '89 lost their utility and the losers of transition had to search for new strategies. However, the developed models vary. There are persons who, by virtue of their situation, are ready to assume the risks that accompany the use of certain strategies. Others adapted with much more difficulty to the changing environment and they do not, or often cannnnot assume risks. They experience and conceptualize their situation through specific reflections, verbalizing it in a particular mannnner. The analysis concerns also the elements of these reflections.

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