Aspirational postmodernism
The slow naturalization of the free market culture in late socialist Romania
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12190880 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mihnea Bâlici (0000-0002-3270-7196, Babeș-Bolyai University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 577-595 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in East European Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0925-9392 • E-ISSN: 1573-0948 |
| Publisher | Springer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11212-025-09737-7 |
| OpenAlex | W4411202660 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 23 |
Drawing on Fredric Jameson’s theory of postmodernism, the paper suggests that Romania’s postmodern condition necessitates a distinctive theoretical framework, one that accounts for its special position within what the Marxist critic calls the Second World. This framework underscores the unique socio-cultural dynamics of the slow encroachment in Romania of “aspirational postmodernism,” situated within a broader, global capitalist system. The study identifies three genealogies—societal, cultural, and popular—that shaped Romanian postmodernism’s development, as it can be seen in the material provided by the Arcanum archive between 1970 and 2000. Initially, the societal meaning of postmodernism, seen as a shift away from Western capitalism, gave way to a more aestheticized understanding. The cultural genealogy, driven by intellectuals and writers, was constrained by the dominance of older generations and the pervasive influence of nationalism in political discourse. By the 1990s, postmodernism emerged as an ideological tool in the public sphere, particularly in the context of liberalization and decommunization. However, in comparison with other semi-peripheral postmodernist phenomena, the postmodernist influence remained weak and underdeveloped. The paper calls for a reevaluation of both Marxist-Jamesonian and Romanian models of postmodernism to better understand the socialist bloc’s distinct experience of postmodernity
Citizenship · Consciousness · Epistemology · Free market · Naturalization · Political economy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Postmodernism · Sociology · Globalization and Cultural Identity · Law · Philosophy
The cultural contradictions of capitalism
National Ideology Under Socialism
Rerooting the core
Polycrisis
Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism
Against postmodernism
Sovereign Debt, Austerity, and Regime Change
The Politics of Postmodernism
Materialism dialectic și istoric în comunismul românesc (I)
Fracturismul în câmpul literar românesc
Postmodernism and the Postsocialist Condition
The condition of postmodernity
Critique of everyday life
Post-Industrial Society
Romanian Literature as World Literature
The World-System after the Cold War
"Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the "National Allegory
The Third World in Jameson's Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |