Estonian Human Development Report
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
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CHAPTER 4<br />
Quality of Life and Integration<br />
4.1. Introduction<br />
The following chapter analyzes the problems related to integration<br />
in <strong>Estonian</strong> society from the aspect of the quality of<br />
life. The analysis is conducted by examining the level of life<br />
satisfaction of ethnic minorities compared to other European<br />
countries and focusing on specific problems by analyzing<br />
two fields of activity – socio-political participation<br />
and the labour market. As it appears from the following<br />
analysis, the satisfaction among the indigenous population<br />
and the ethnic minorities differs, which is a social problem<br />
not only in Estonia but in several countries of “old Europe”.<br />
Therefore, the Council of Europe Framework Convention<br />
for the Protection of National Minorities (see Framework<br />
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and<br />
Explanatory <strong>Report</strong>, http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitorings/minorities/1_AtGlance/PDF_Text_FCNM_et.pdf,<br />
pp.<br />
23–24), which establishes the general requirements for the<br />
integration of ethnic minorities, places great importance on<br />
the setting of goals to ensure that the members of society<br />
belonging to ethnic minorities have opportunities equal to<br />
the indigenous people for participating in public life and the<br />
labour market. The opportunity for minorities to participate<br />
in public life and the labour market in European countries<br />
is guaranteed by very diverse legislative and administrative<br />
measures. How these opportunities are realized depends on<br />
the country’s policies, as well as, to a great extent, on the<br />
people themselves, their activism and their will to realize<br />
themselves in society. An examination of the current situation<br />
in Estonia and the recollection of the social shock<br />
that occurred during the so-called April Unrest prompt the<br />
question that can be considered the central problem: are the<br />
young people who have socialized during the two transition<br />
decades into the “new <strong>Estonian</strong> society” more satisfied<br />
and integrated than their parents and grandparents? Or are<br />
new problems developing for the younger generation that<br />
was born and has grown up in the Republic of Estonia upon<br />
entering the <strong>Estonian</strong> labour market and public sphere?<br />
Can a “third-generation problem” similar to the Western<br />
European countries develop in Estonia, which could culminate<br />
in protests by Russian young people?<br />
4.2. Ethnic differentiations in<br />
satisfaction evaluations: Estonia’s<br />
distinctions in the European context<br />
The following analysis continues the topic of the quality<br />
of life and life satisfaction covered in Chapter 3 from<br />
the aspect of ethnicity. The analysis, which was previously<br />
based on percentage distributions, has been developed<br />
further in this chapter (see Realo, Chapter 3), and the<br />
importance of the factors comprising life satisfaction has<br />
been compared with the help of relative statistical coefficients.<br />
The analysis in this chapter confirms the previous<br />
results indicating that the significant factors affecting the<br />
formation of life satisfaction in Estonia involve the individual’s<br />
age, citizenship, education, and material welfare.<br />
This analysis shows that in the European context Estonia<br />
is quite distinctive, because people’s satisfaction evaluations<br />
are strongly related to their ethnic background and<br />
citizenship – the 2006 European Social Survey data on 25<br />
countries 18 indicated that both variables – ethnic affiliation<br />
and citizenship – have a strong association with life<br />
satisfaction (see Annex 4.2.1) 19 .<br />
The following subchapter focuses primarily on the analysis<br />
of life satisfaction by ethnic background. Although,<br />
based on Annex 4.2.1, citizenship and ethnic self-determination<br />
are equally important factors in ascertaining life<br />
satisfaction, the association with citizenship can be greatly<br />
explained by ethnic affiliation – i.e. the citizens of Russia<br />
and other countries express their lower life satisfaction primarily<br />
when they define themselves as an ethnic minority.<br />
18<br />
In order to make the survey findings more representative, the data are usually weighted. However, the deficiency of the European<br />
Social Survey is that in the case of two countries – Latvia and Romania – the data weights were not given. When analyzing Estonia,<br />
it is important to make comparisons with other post-socialist countries. Therefore, in this analysis data from all 25 of the countries<br />
covered by 2006 <strong>Estonian</strong> Social Survey have been used. In the case of weighted and non-weighted data, there are differences of a few<br />
percent in the satisfaction assessments. The trustworthiness of the analysis is confirmed by the fact that the statistical importance of<br />
the association coefficient and the strength of the coefficient remain the same.<br />
19<br />
In Western countries, the ethnic factor is also important in Denmark, although the ethnic differences there are smaller than in<br />
Estonia (The Cramer’s V value, which expresses the association with life satisfaction, is 0.153, in Estonia it is 0.209.)<br />
81 |