ESS in the context of transition studies

This issue celebrates 10 years of Estonia’s participation in the European Social Survey (ESS). The ESS, with its mission “to chart… attitudes in Europe and to interpret how Europe’s social, political and moral fabric is changing” (About the….), is a thankworthy resource for the research of socio-political and economic transitions. Although the ESS survey does not cover the most turbulent times in the 80s and 90s, it is a useful tool for comparative analysis because it provides cross-national survey results and contextual data. The ESS is built on the ontological basis of comparative, cross-national research that recognises the value of diff erent societies and cultures, and that makes ‘others’ meaningful either as background for analysis of ‘own’ society or as components of the ‘whole’.