Cultural Trauma and Social Quality in Post-Soviet Moldavia and Belarus

This article looks at influences on the social quality of the lives of the citizens of Belarus and Moldova in the context of the traumatic shock—economic, political, and social—experienced after 1991. It argues that lived experience— how people evaluate their condition—is as significant an influence on their welfare as the actual circumstances in which they live. The majority of respondents perceive the post-1991 economic and political changes negatively, and levels of general satisfaction and happiness are comparatively low. The findings suggest that objective economic factors, health status, and social context influence well-being, but also personal control and satisfaction with material circumstances, with health having a greater influence on happiness, while material circumstances and the evaluation of them have a greater influence on general satisfaction.