<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article presents a few of the demographic transformations in Romania in the period after the fall of the communist regime in 1989, when the new social circumstances, along with legal changes, had an undeniable effect on the manifestation of the demographic phenomena and thus on the volume and the structure of the population. The present article summarizes and also describes the transformations, with a few attempts at explaining them, without, however, aligning to any major theory that attempts to explain what has happened and to predict what will come next. In order to avoid entrapment within an enclosed discursive universe, there will be references to the situation of other countries, mainly in the geographical area of Romania and, more widely, in the European Union. The demographic phenomena that are analysed individually are fertility and mortality, which have a direct impact on the natural growth of the population. There are only a few suggestions on transnational migration in the section devoted to the changes of the population. Last, but not least, the text is a critical analysis of some of the official demographic statistics put forward by the National Institute of Statistics and even by EUROSTAT – data that is questionable or outright false and risks misleading the reader that is less familiar with the demographic situation of Romania.</abstract>

Notes on the Demographic Transformations in Postcommunist Romania

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In Romania, sociological investigations on theatre are mere illusions that drift further and further away into the sky. In the last 30 years, a few theatres commissioned surveys to measure, as best as they could, the structure and the preferences of their own audience, over shorter (in the case of the 2003 first survey draft at Odeon Theatre, the research lasted no more than one weekend) or longer spans of time (in 2015, at Nottara Theatre, IMAS conducted a survey during a month; the survey applied at the Bucharest National Theatre in 2013 remained a legend, or a rumour rather, as the management treated it with mysterious silence). This paper tries to follow the intentions and the destiny of the researches and surveys dedicated to the theatre sociology by Pavel Câmpeanu and his small team between 1968-1974.</abstract>

Sociology and Theatre, A Too Short Beginning. Pavel Câmpeanu’s Studies

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">For the Bulgarian Muslims in Spain wedding videos are a popular device for socializing, overcoming nostalgia and keeping pace with the news and events that take place back home in Bulgaria. The mediatization of the ritual allows an extension of the ritual across time and space. Watching the videos is a re-enactment of the celebration and has become part of the ritual itself. Subsequently, this extension of the ritual through a mediated device has led to its subtle transformations. At the same time, wedding videos and the particular mode of use produce a social effect beyond the structure of the ritual. They contribute to the extending and re-creating of a migrant community that spreads over space transnationally and temporally between the past of home and the present of life in migrancy. Drawing on ethnographic material and using the analytical tools of actor-network theory, the main aim of this paper is to trace the uses and effects of wedding videos for transforming the wedding ritual through postponing and re-enacting it on one hand, and for sustaining the phantasm of an imagined virtual community on the other. The broader problem that this paper seeks to address is the specific role that material devices play for producing social effects for migrant communities.</abstract>

Phantasmic Devices: Wedding Videos and the Creation of an Imagined Transnational Community by Bulgarian Muslims in Spain

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article is a contribution to the debates on the topics of class divide and urban development in the ex-Socialist Bloc after the 1990 regime change. In the first part, it renders the roots and limitations of the middle class concept and shows the role the concept played in the transition narrative. After it elaborates on how the middle class can be understood within the broader discussion on contemporary global class restructuring under the neoliberal forces, in the second part the article provides, using qualitative data, a micro social and economic history of the city of Cluj-Napoca, which reveals and explains how flows of capital investments grant the economic conditions for a strata of people to embrace the middle class’s ideal and values, and how this new material basis is reflected in the spatial restructuring of the city.</abstract>

Suburbanisation and Middle Class Imaginaires in the Post-Socialist City. A Romanian Case Study

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">How producers of free digital goods can be compensated for their labour is a major topic of debate and controversy in Free Software and related fields. This paper analytically disentangles the multiple modes of remuneration in operation in Free Software and presents the implications from a political economy perspective. The outlook of autonomous commons-based production in information goods is situated in relation to capitalism. In the process, certain conceptual contributions are made regarding the nature of information goods and the commodity form.</abstract>

Forms of Remuneration for Free Software Production: A Reducible Complexity

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">In this paper I will examine the structural and social features of the gang-mastered labour system (<italic>caporalato</italic>) as it appears in the agricultural production process in Italy. I will discuss the functions of this type of labour regime through an analysis of the role (Romanian) migrant labour plays in the Italian agriculture process and its need for the (informal) labour market mediation in agriculture. My aim is to critically map the function of <italic>caporalato</italic> within a production circuit that starts with the low price imposed on agricultural goods, and ends up at the top of the production process, namely with the food empires and corporate retail and distribution chains. The economic constraint for an ever cheaper labourforce, and its social context, will guide our critique of <italic>caporalato</italic></abstract>

Labour Relations and Labour Structures in Mediterranean Capitalism. <italic>Caporalato</italic> and Romanian Migration in the Southern Italian Agriculture

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Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia

The journal welcomes multidisciplinary and comparative approaches in the fields of sociology, social work, social policies, anthropology, urban and rural studies. Articles that address social issues from Central and Eastern Europe from a global perspective, develop historical comparisons or critical reflections, are particularly appreciated. The core of each thematic issue is composed of research articles with empirical grounding. Methodological discussion papers and book reviews compose distinct sections. A special section entitled Romanian Sociology Today publishes recent research papers relevant for the state-of-art of sociology in Romania.   Why subscribe and read  Studia UBB Sociologia was one of the first Sociology journals in Romania, fully published in English since 2008. The majority of articles are authored by Eastern European scholars who embrace a theoretically informed, empirically grounded, comparative and critical perspective on social changes in the region.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 