A pénzkeresettől az életformaváltásig. A munkavándorlás székelyföldi modelljei a 20. században
Changing Lifestyles: Work Migration Models in 20th Century Székely Land

Summary/Abstract: In the last part of the 19th century Transylvanian overpopulation resulted in a degeneration of lifestyle. The direction of internal migration changed from one of movement from villages to towns, towards one of movement to regions with better economic opportunities. For years many found jobs outside their settlement: the young population from villages served in towns. Around the turn of the century those who left the country chose to emigrate in the USA. It was a common phenomenon to move back and forth between regions and home settlements. For example, servants usually moved back after several years. These migration patterns lasted about a century, when the communist regime introduced its program to change the structure of society. In the middle of the 20th century (from the mid-forties until the sixties) Transylvanian villagers migrated to big industrial centers, located far away in Romania, and experienced a permanent lifestyle change. The irreversibility became clear aft er the 1989 revolution: only a few descendants returned to their families’ home villages. In the second half of the nineteen sixties the communist government’s aggressive urbanization and industrialization projects were launched in Transylvania. Villagers could change their profession without leaving their home settlement, choosing to commute from home to work. In a short period, towns from Székely land became crowded because of rapidly-built panel blockhouses, public utilities and institutions. Unlike the previous decades’ habits to work in the same field throughout one’s life, it became common to switch careers several times.

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