From Kolkhoz to holding company: A Hungarian agricultural producer co-operative in transition

This paper uses a case study, the Noble Grape co-operative (a pseudonym). t o illustrate the roles of social and cultural capital in both the creation of a successful agricultural producer co-operative (collective farm) in soc ialist Hungary and its transformation into a successful private company aft er 1989. It identifies both continuities in personnel, from socialist techn ocrat to capitalist manager, and continuities in the financial establishmen t with which it deals. The social origins of the key players in the transfo rmation are compared with the existing sociological literature on changing elites in Eastern Europe, and the fate of the ordinary members who appear t o be the losers in the process.