Ray, Larry J. (2009) At the End of the Post-Communist Transformation? Normalization or Imagining Utopia? European Journal of Social Theory, 12 (3). pp. 321-336. ISSN 1368-4310. (doi:10.1177/1368431009337349) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:40294)
The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. | |
Official URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368431009337349 |
Abstract
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.
Item Type: | Article |
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DOI/Identification number: | 10.1177/1368431009337349 |
Additional information: | number of additional authors: 0; |
Uncontrolled keywords: | crisis, Hungary, Poland, post-communism, social theory, utopias |
Subjects: |
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
Divisions: | Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research |
Depositing User: | Stewart Brownrigg |
Date Deposited: | 07 Mar 2014 00:05 UTC |
Last Modified: | 16 Nov 2021 10:15 UTC |
Resource URI: | https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/40294 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes) |
Ray, Larry J.: | ![]() |
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