SOME SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN REBUILDING SLOVENE SOCIETY, FAMILY LIFE AND LIVING CONDITIONS: Two Decades After

The article briefly presents the differences of life and living in Slovenia (almost) two decades after and focuses on achieved results in political, economical and social life. The comparison shows that not all survived processes were reasonable, required and efficient. Some today are overstrained and demand consideration by many involved. The author in her article after the short historical introduction argues with political, economic and especially social changes in Slovenia “Two decades After”. She points out, that economic, cultural, social and political change go together in coherent patterns that have and still are changing the Slovene society in unpredictable ways what on trajectories has been attractive but controversial. Globalization and transition processes also have a negative side; many Slovenes have been hurt by it without being supported by a social safety net and many of them have been marginalized by labour market. She critically establishes that even (mostly in coalition) the governments tried to establish a liberal political culture by passing numerous fundamental laws and to carry out a social and economic transition into a social market economy with private initiative. But they did not manage to prevent excessive social stratification, and consequently, social differentiation. Yet it cannot be denied that the increasing unemployment is debilitating the social state, which is mostly cooperative but powerless with weapons against it. For the author one is clear: Slovenes were placing too much trust in “new democratic politics” at the beginning of the ’90 ies. There is a set of expectations not been realized by far: better living standard and living conditions for all, preventing social exclusion, economic and tax reforms, intense foreign investments, greater role of small and medium sized companies, equal availability and free choice for all those entitled and especially, the unreliable situation of the young, etc. Especially the gradual increase in age at which young people leave school, enter the labour market, find a steady job, leave the home of their parents, establish a stable, affectionate relationship and establish their own home, has triggered a whole series of interdependent mechanisms underlying life courses.