7 Literature.indd


249Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (3) 247–251.

At the beginning of 2015 a substantial volume was 
published in Hungarian language edited by the 
prominent Hungarian sociologist Viktória Szirmai 
which contained studies on spatial inequalities and 
social well-being in the Hungarian context. Actually, 
the English version of the volume entitled “From 
spatial inequalities to social well-being” summarises 
the main results of the most exciting studies. Eight 
papers selected for the English version are obvi-
ously not enough to walk around the whole subject 
in detail, but more than enough to outline the main 
context of contemporary spatial inequalities and well-
being in Hungary and to provide a careful analysis 
of the country-specifi c situation. In my review I try 
to summarise the main fi ndings of the book in order 
to provide additional information to the public and 
researchers interested in the topic.

In her short introduction entitled „The history of 
researching social well-being in Hungary” Viktória 
Szirmai outlines the main concept of the volume. She 

emphasises that the core concept of the book (i.e. ‘so-
cial well-being’) builds on the theoretical construct 
of A. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winner American 
economist. The well-known Stiglitz Report published 
in 2009 stated that the GDP is an inappropriate index 
to measure social progress, thus, new indicators and 
analytical tools are needed for describing and model-
ling of social processes. Instead of one-dimensional 
indicators on production and economy so typical for 
the 1970s and 1980s the emphasis should be placed on 
the sophisticated measurement of social well-being. 
Viktória Szirmai draws the readers’ att ention to the 
fact that the Stiglitz model unfortunately does not 
take into account the spatial aspects, namely national 
and regional characteristics. This is actually the main 
aim of the volume, to shed light on regional varia-
tions of social well-being of those living in metro-
politan and rural areas trough empirical surveys. The 
main question of the comprehensive research was 
how well-being is determined by spatial location and 
social structural positions of the population? 

The initial statement of the study „Social well-be-
ing issues in Europe: The possibility of starting to 
establish a more competitive Europe” refers to the 
fact that European economy has lost its competitive 
advantages against other world regions since the 
1980s, which resulted a gradual downsizing and re-
ducing of welfare measures within national economic 
policies. Due to the withdrawing welfare systems in 
the last couple of decades rising urban poverty and 
intensifying migration processes could be detected 
throughout the EU member states. Next to impacts of 
globalisation processes the transformation of the wel-
fare systems and administrative structures can also 
be mentioned, which induced polarisation processes 
in the regional structures: new spatial dependencies 
and disparities have emerged in Western Europe. Due 
to the emerging socio-economic diff erentiation spa-
tial diff erences became more pronounced. The study 
comes to the conclusion that in the last two decades 
eff orts in Europe to solve (or at least to soft en) socio-
economic and environmental problems have failed, 
and the civil sector could not show resounding suc-
cess in this fi eld either. That is the reason why the 
author assumes that the Stiglitz model could bring a 
new approach and more likely could lead to success 
in improving European competitiveness. 

The chapter on „International study of public 
policies on well-being” provides an overview on the 
emergence and development of European welfare 
policies and examines how the question of well-be-
ing appears in signifi cant international documents. 
Considering the achievements and failures of mod-

Viktória Szirmai (ed): From spatial inequalities to social well-being. Kodolányi János University of Applied 
Sciences, Székesfehérvár, 2015. 187 p.



Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (3) 247–251.250

ernisation in the Central and Eastern European 
(CEE) countries and based on the results of the 
UN-Habitat Sustainable Cities Programme the pa-
per points out that social transformation of the CEE 
countries is actually completed, the standard of liv-
ing has improved considerably but very unevenly, 
and signifi cant concentrations of unemployment has 
emerged. According to the authors, large cities and 
metropolitan regions prevail in the sett lement devel-
opment contrary to small towns and rural regions, 
and regional development has become uneven. With 
regard to demographic trends low birth rates and ag-
ing are the prime challenges to be solved in the CEE 
countries. The economy is characterised by a lack of 
co-operation, the social housing sector is weak due 
to the privatisation and a dramatic rise of housing 
and living costs could be observed in these countries. 
Thus, the European Union’s urban development poli-
cy could not convey the urban development patt erns 
and models everywhere in Europe. Actually, the new 
model for social well-being policy should be based on 
the characteristics of the local society and they should 
be conveyed clearly, the needs and satisfaction of local 
residents must be taken into account, and well-being 
for urban residents should appear as a priority issue 
in these policies. The study comes to the conclusion 
that European urban policies provide a mix of legisla-
tive and business models, and although elements of 
well-being issues appear oft en, well-being seems not 
to be the main objective of these policies.

The chapter on „The socio-demographic structure 
of the Hungarian Metropolitan Regions” deals with 
the socio-demographic conditions of 9 Hungarian 
metropolitan regions based on empirical analyses 
focusing on demography, migration, education and 
income conditions. Authors come to the conclusion 
that social conditions in metropolitan areas on the 
countryside are less favourable than in Budapest. 
Demographic indicators are deteriorating on the 
countryside, mainly due to the declining population 
fi gures and the growth of outmigration. Demographic 
and social diff erences among the major provincial 
cities and Budapest have clearly grown during the 
past decade. 

In the next study „The spatial social characteristics 
of Hungarian metropolitan regions and the trans-
formation of the core-periphery model” we get an 
insight into the transformation of the spatial struc-
tures of the investigated metropolitan regions. The 
chapter is based on comparative analyses of empirical 
research results carried out in 2005 and 2014 with the 
same methodology. Results of the fi rst survey in 2005 
showed that inner-city areas could be characterised 
by a strong socio-spatial hierarchy, and the social sta-
tus of the population clearly dropped towards the pe-
riphery. Due to the outmigration of middle-class peo-
ple to the suburbs inner-urban areas became strongly 
diff erentiated, whereas the social upgrading of the 

periphery gained momentum. Results from 2014 
survey suggest a strong regional and social polarisa-
tion. On the one hand, the spatial expansion of higher 
status strata could be detected, on the other hand, 
the level of social exclusion has clearly increased. 
While inside the compact cities spatial disparities 
somewhat decreased, the social status of neighbour-
hoods levelled out, at the peripheries (both inside and 
outside the city-limits) new bett er-off  residential areas 
emerged. This could be predominantly traced back to 
the outmigration of higher status groups. The process 
is labelled by the authors as ‘suburbanisation inside 
the city’. Anyway, according to the empirical data 
the status of the city centre has nowhere diminished, 
and thanks to the sporadic gentrifi cation processes 
the core cities will most probably maintain (or even 
increase) their socio-economic status. 

The upcoming study „Social well-being character-
istics and spatial-social determinations” examines the 
already well-known metropolitan regions but this 
time the characteristics of well-being are addressed. 
Authors detect the patt erns of Stiglitzian dimensions 
(i.e. material living standards, health, education, per-
sonal activities, political voice and governance, social 
connections and relationships, environment, insecu-
rity) on intra-urban and regional scale in Hungary. 
According to the investigations they conclude that 
due to the strengthening weight of the middle class, 
and the ongoing polarisation within the society the 
inner-city will most probably continue to play a lead-
ing role in the core-periphery model, however, the 
transition zone seems to become more mosaic-like. 

The chapter entitled „Well-being defi cits in dis-
advantaged regions” provides a comprehensive as-
sessment of the so-called ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ 
well-being in four disadvantageous micro-regions. In 
order to explore the level of ‘objective’ well-being in 
the case study areas educational att ainment, labour 
market position and fi nancial situation of the popu-
lation are compared in the fi rst section of the study. 
Diff erent characteristics of ‘subjective’ well-being are 
presented through the analysis of diff erences in term 
of happiness and satisfaction. All indicators for objec-
tive and subjective well-being are the weakest in pe-
ripheral marginalised communities, and diff erences 
are most pronounced in the case of objective well-be-
ing. Among determining social and economic factors 
for well-being defi cits aging, decreasing population, 
stagnation of the local economy, lack of industrial 
activities and reduction in employment can be men-
tioned. Peripheralisation, economic marginalisation 
and negative demographic processes could not be sig-
nifi cantly improved even by government measures. 

In the fi nal chapter of „How can we get from spa-
tial inequalities to social well-being?” the editor of 
the book concludes that globalisation produces in-
equalities and the global economy actually works 
in inequalities eff ectively. International research on 



251Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (3) 247–251.

competitiveness also testifi es this experience. Over 
the past decades a signifi cant deconcentration (of 
jobs and people) has taken place, and urban areas 
have been torn to developed and underdeveloped 
areas. In particular, social and spatial diff erences have 
become very conspicuous especially between metro-
politan and rural disadvantaged micro-regions. Thus, 
in the coming years it would be important to reduce 
regional disparities and to support the development 
of well-being. The way out could be the assessment of 
the level of well-being of various social strata in urban 
and rural areas, and aft er defi ning well-being defi cits 
diff erentiated steps should be performed in order to 
increase the well-being of these social strata.

We can conclude that the aesthetically pleasing, 
properly illustrated book gives a good insight into 
the social well-being issue of metropolitan and ru-
ral areas in Hungary. The merit of the book is that 

the outcomes are predominantly based on empirical 
research and a comparative and interdisciplinary ap-
proach is applied. 

The quality of the book could have been further 
improved with valuable photos, which could have 
provided a bett er understanding of local conditions 
to foreigners and readers without knowledge of local 
(Hungarian) circumstances. In any case, the book is 
a good starting point for those who deal with social 
diff erentiation of metropolitan areas in CEE and more 
specifi cally in Hungary, or want to get deeper insight 
into the subject of social well-being. Honourable is 
the work of the editor because the joint research and 
publishing of the book have successfully contributed 
to the cooperation of sociology and geography.

Tamás Egedy