Theorising the Effect of Transition on Female Labour Force in the European Semi-Periphery: An Interdisciplinary Methodology
Theorising the Effect of Transition on Female Labour Force in the European Semi-Periphery: An Interdisciplinary Methodology

Summary/Abstract: This article presents an interdisciplinary methodological framework that I developed to theorise and empirically test the drivers of female labour force participation in post-socialist Eastern Europe. As I attempted to apply existing theories from consolidated capitalist economies onto the Eastern European cases, I faced the dilemma of either having to label the Eastern European cases as ‘deviant’, because they were not fitting into the pre-existing Western-centric theoretical categories, or having to build a more useful theoretical abstraction which would reflect the Eastern European post-socialist reality. Being interested in the on-theground socioeconomic development of Eastern Europe rather than validation of Western-centric theories in the East, I chose the latter option. My aim was to open the black box of transition and address this theoretical gap between Western theory and Eastern reality of gender and labour markets, while providing an answer to a specific research question. To achieve that, I embarked on a study of the history of explanations in the social sciences, an elaboration of a theory-oriented mode of explanation, and the development of a mixed methods empirical strategy which combined statistical analysis with qualitative case studies.

• Details
• Contents