Negotiating Normality
Everyday Lives in Socialist Institutions
1st Edition
Published on 30. June 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
270 pages
978-1-4128-5583-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book is about state socialism, not as a political system, but as an "ecosystem" of interactions between the state and the citizens it sought to control. It includes case studies that demonstrate how the major ideological principles of socialism translated into motives guiding people's lives.
This unique post-revisionist study focuses on people's lives and experiences rather than political systems. The studies are grouped around three common elements-socialist labor, the new socialist man, and the socialist way of life. Using first-hand accounts, the authors find minute deviations from the norms that eventually lead to renegotiation of the norms themselves. Focusing on routines, not extremes, they present socialism in its "normal" state.
The volume demonstrates different national strategies for dealing with the past in the post-socialist world. Studies of the socialist past may strive to be objective, but their messages tend to be complex. Rather than arriving at one truth about the nature of socialism, this volume explores the many ways people have survived the system.
This unique post-revisionist study focuses on people's lives and experiences rather than political systems. The studies are grouped around three common elements-socialist labor, the new socialist man, and the socialist way of life. Using first-hand accounts, the authors find minute deviations from the norms that eventually lead to renegotiation of the norms themselves. Focusing on routines, not extremes, they present socialism in its "normal" state.
The volume demonstrates different national strategies for dealing with the past in the post-socialist world. Studies of the socialist past may strive to be objective, but their messages tend to be complex. Rather than arriving at one truth about the nature of socialism, this volume explores the many ways people have survived the system.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Inc
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
399 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4128-5583-9 (9781412855839)
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
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07/2017
Routledge
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07/2017
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07/2012
1st Edition
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Person
Daniela Koleva is associate professor at the department of history and theory of culture, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Bulgaria. Her work is widely published in international journals and collective volumes. Additionally, she has written two books in Bulgarian and has edited volumes in Bulgarian and English.
Content
Introduction
Socialist Normality: Euphemization of Power or Profanation of Power?
Daniela Koleva
1. "Living and Working Together": Formal and Personal Relations Between Workers of the Polish State-Owned Farms
Ewelina Szpak
2. "Women Workers" in Hungary: Identities and Everyday Lives (Microhistorical Analysis of Life-Story Interviews)
Eszter Zsofia Toth
3. Yesterday's Heroes: Spinning Webs of Memory in a Postsocialist Textile Factory in Slovenia
Nina Vodopivec
4. Negotiating Spare Time: Magic at Work in the Everyday Life of a Bulgarian Socialist School
Nadezhda Galabova
5. Contested Normality: Negotiating Masculinity in Narratives of Service in the Yugoslav People's Army
Tanja Petrovi
6. Experiencing Socialism: Female Singers in Southeastern Serbia
Ana Hofman
7. Eating Well in Times of Scarcity: Reactions, Perceptions, and Negotiation of Shortages in 1980s' Romania
Simina Bdic
8. Resistance in Consumption: In Search of a Negotiating Agent
Valentina Gueorguieva
9. Housing as a Norm and as an Everyday Life Strategy in Communist Czechoslovakia (1968-89)
Hana Pelikanova
10. The Indifferent, the Obedient, and the Adjusted: Three Women's Narratives about Socialism in Croatia
Sanja Potkonjak
The Authors
Index
Socialist Normality: Euphemization of Power or Profanation of Power?
Daniela Koleva
1. "Living and Working Together": Formal and Personal Relations Between Workers of the Polish State-Owned Farms
Ewelina Szpak
2. "Women Workers" in Hungary: Identities and Everyday Lives (Microhistorical Analysis of Life-Story Interviews)
Eszter Zsofia Toth
3. Yesterday's Heroes: Spinning Webs of Memory in a Postsocialist Textile Factory in Slovenia
Nina Vodopivec
4. Negotiating Spare Time: Magic at Work in the Everyday Life of a Bulgarian Socialist School
Nadezhda Galabova
5. Contested Normality: Negotiating Masculinity in Narratives of Service in the Yugoslav People's Army
Tanja Petrovi
6. Experiencing Socialism: Female Singers in Southeastern Serbia
Ana Hofman
7. Eating Well in Times of Scarcity: Reactions, Perceptions, and Negotiation of Shortages in 1980s' Romania
Simina Bdic
8. Resistance in Consumption: In Search of a Negotiating Agent
Valentina Gueorguieva
9. Housing as a Norm and as an Everyday Life Strategy in Communist Czechoslovakia (1968-89)
Hana Pelikanova
10. The Indifferent, the Obedient, and the Adjusted: Three Women's Narratives about Socialism in Croatia
Sanja Potkonjak
The Authors
Index