Social Tribute Paid to the Past

After the fall of communism, people from the East were left encumbered with forced equality between individuals. In reaction to that, they have tried to shift to the other extreme. Nonetheless, the past has “worked” on them, and after mass homogenisation, some of the Eastern countries are still faced with blatant inequalities. How far can this process go, and what is its impact on sustainable development? This is a question the chapter seeks to answer. Moreover, equality at the onset is the cornerstone of sustainable social construction. After this traumatic experience, the East can hardly find the institutional support to reach normality. Faced with a lack of good rules, Eastern countries are emptied by a massive youth exodus. Whether sustainable commitments can be established between those who stay and those who leave in such a context is another question that the analysis of this chapter is concerned with.