
Getting by in Postsocialist Romania
Labor, the Body, and Working-class Culture
David A. Kideckel(Author)
Indiana University Press
Published on 27. February 2008
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-253-34957-6 (ISBN)
Description
This compelling ethnographic study describes how two groups of Romanian industrial workers have fared since the end of socialism. Once labour's elite, the celebrated coal miners of the Jiu Valley and the chemical workers of the Fagaras region had many social privileges and often derived genuine satisfaction from their work. Today, they are a rarely noted casualty of post socialist transformations. Fear, distance, and alienation are the physical manifestations of stress experienced due to their precarious job status, declining health, and loss of a social safety net. Kideckel traces these issues in the context of labour, political relationships, domestic and community life, gender identities, and health. Drawing on more than three decades of fieldwork, he presents many narratives from select individuals, in their own words, providing a poignant and illuminating perspective on the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Reviews / Votes
"David Kideckel challenges celebratory images of post-socialism by focusing on the often neglected working class and allowing the disenfranchised to speak for themselves. In so doing he provides a contribution to the ethnography of eastern Europe that speaks poignantly to broader discussions of work, class, and gender under neoliberalism." Gerald Creed, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New YorkMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
11 b&w photos, 2 maps
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
572 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-253-34957-6 (9780253349576)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
1. Getting By in Postsocialism: Labor, Bodies, Voices; 2. How Workers Became "Others": Talking Alienation; 3. Postsocialist Labor Pains: Fear, Distance, and Narrative in the Workplace; 4. The Postsocialist Body Politic; 5. Houses of Stone or of Straw? Postsocialist Worker Communities; 6. Strangers in their Own Skin: Workers and Gender in Postsocialism; 7. The Embodied Enemy: Stress, Health, and Agency; 8. What Is to Be Done?