At the End of the Post-Communist Transformation? Normalization or Imagining Utopia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2397835 |
|---|---|
| Authors | L Ray (0000-0003-1592-3425, University of Kent, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 321-336 |
| Publication date | 2009-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1368431009337349 |
| OpenAlex | W2050174381 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 26 |
This article reviews the implications of the collapse of Communism in Europe for some themes in recent social theory. It was often assumed that 1989 was part of a global process of normalization and routinization of social life that had been left behind earlier utopian hopes. Nothing that utopia is open to various interpretations, including utopias of the everyday, this article suggests, first that there were utopian dimensions to 1989, and, second, that these hopes continue to influence contemporary social and political developments. The continuing role of substantive utopian expectations is illustrated with reference to the politics of lustration in Poland and the rise of nationalist parties in Hungary. This analysis is placed in the context of the already apparent impact of the global economic crisis in post-communist countries. It concludes that the unevenness and diversity of the post-1989 world elude overly generalized attempts at theorization and demand more nuanced analyses
Communism · Epistemology · Nationalism · Nothing · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Utopia · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Law · Philosophy · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Urbanization and City Planning
Karl Marx
The Concept of Utopia
The structural transformation of the public sphere
Social Theory and Postcommunism
The Balkanization of the West
National Diversity and Global Capitalism
Capitalism by Democratic Design
Revolutionary Ideas and Ideals
Marxism and the convergence of utopia and the everyday
Self-government and Ownership in Poland
Post-Postcommunism
The end of history and the last man
The Balkans
Post-Communism
The Crisis of the National Spatio-Temporal Fix and the Tendential Ecological Dominance of Globalizing Capitalism
How not to deal with the past
The Empire Strikes Back
Migration and Remembrance
Memory Unbound
Robust Utopias and Civil Repairs
Rituals of Solidarity and Security in the Wake of Terrorist Attack
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,44 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2021 (12) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |