The moral economy of comfortable living
Negotiating individualism and collectivism through housing in Belgrade
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2361049 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Charlotte E Johnson (University College London, UK), Charlotte Johnson (0000-0002-7340-1601, University College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 156-171 |
| Publication date | 2018-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critique of Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-275X • E-ISSN: 1460-3721 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0308275x18758874 |
| OpenAlex | W2790937153 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 15 |
Comfort in the home depends on material and social connections. From pipes and wires to legal and financial contracts, these connections shape expectations of what comfortable living is and how it can be achieved. These connections create a moral economy that is based on the materiality of housing, and that is revealed as individual households pursue comfortable conditions in reference to external criteria and constraints. This paper explores the moral economy of comfort through an ethnography of one apartment block in Belgrade. The building, built in the 1970s, is an archetype of the modern, consumer lifestyle that Yugoslav market socialism promised to deliver to its citizens. Today the memories of a socialist moral economy are still present in the fabric of the building and the values of the residents who struggle to maintain their homes as individual spaces of comfort within a capitalist economy. This case shows the changing legitimacy of the pursuit of comfort and the ongoing tension to manage individual and collective gain
Aesthetics · Apartment · Collectivism · Economics · Economy · Individualism · Legitimacy · Market economy · Materiality (auditing · Moral economy · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Urbanization and City Planning
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |