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Author:   Tibor Valuch (Research Chair, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
Publisher:   Central European University Press
Imprint:   Central European University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.848kg
ISBN:  

9789633863763

ISBN 10:   9633863767
Pages:   508
Publication Date:   15 February 2022
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures List of Tables List of Acronyms Introduction Chapter One: The Study of Hungarian Everyday Life: Historiography, Methods, and Concepts About the sources used for this volume The concept of daily life, correlations between lifestyle and changes in society Chapter Two: Two Hundred Pengős a Month, Five Hundred Forints, Two Thousand Forints…: Financial Circumstances, Prices, Wages, and Income Inequalities in Everyday Life National revenue, real wages, and changes in the standard of living Wages, prices, inequalities Unchanging and changing forms of poverty Accumulating property and wealth Chapter Three: From Plentiful Privation to a Consumer Society: The Changes and Characteristics of Consumer Consumption Consumption and consumer attitudes The corner store, the supermarket, and the shopping center: Changes in the locations of consumer consumption Homes, home construction, furnishings, and durable goods Clothing and the consumption of apparel The consumption and supply of foodstuffs Chapter Four: This Is How We Lived: Housing Conditions, Usage of Living Space, and Interior Decoration The general characteristics determining housing and the state of urban housing Village houses, village dwellings For those without a home: apartments for rent, beds to let, and work dormitories Living in dire straits—slums, shantytowns, and ghettos The general characteristics of changes in home interiors Working-class and middle-class homes Rural and peasant interiors The interior world of Soviet-type housing estates Summer and weekend homes Chapter Five: “Well-dressed and Fashionable”: Changes in Clothing Styles, Habits, and Fashion Need and puritanism: rural and urban styles of dress in the mid-twentieth century Fashion and dressing habits during the state socialist period: changes in norms for everyday and formal occasions Up-to-date fashion and the re-differentiation of apparel at the end of the century Chapter Six: “We Ate, We Drank, We Filled Our Stomachs”: Nutrition, Eating, and Dietary Habits The general characteristics of eating habits From starvation to “goulash communism” The years of “feeling full” Abundance and shortages after the fall of the Iron Curtain Conclusions Appendix Bibliography Index 

Reviews

Anyone interested in the everyday life of workers, peasants and those belonging to the middle classes under communism will find a wealth of original insights in this inspiring book by Tibor Valuch, in particular regarding the emergence of a communist consumer society and the persisting social inequalities under communism. I find it particularly intriguing that he does not end his story with the end of communism but continues it into the post-communist era, which offers fascinating perspectives on the huge changes that in particular workers had to cope with in the period of massive deindustrialization that hit many industrial regions in East Central and Eastern Europe.--Stefan Berger Tibor Valuch's extraordinary book provides a revealing window onto how ordinary citizens experienced historic transformations during the state-socialist period and in the decade after its collapse. It deftly orchestrates an astonishing array of materials to tell this story, from state initiatives to the details of the consumer culture emerging in everyday life.--Krisztina Fehervary

Tibor Valuch is anything but a newcomer to the field of consumption history of modern Hungary. His impressive oeuvre spans almost four decades of publishing activities, engaging profoundly with the material situation of different social classes, especially during state socialism, but also after the political change of 1989-90. While the bulk of his work has so far only been accessible to Hungarian- and, occasionally, German-speaking academia, Valuch's newest book finally makes the essence of his research on everyday consumption practices in Hungary available to most scholars interested in consumption patterns in Eastern Europe. Based on an analysis filling more than 500 pages, this is a major and highly awaited undertaking. Link to review: https://doi.org/10.5325/hungarianstud.49.2.0277 -- Annina Gagyiova * Hungarian Studies Review *

Author Information

Tibor Valuch is a social historian and research chair at the Center for Social Sciences, Institute of Political Science, Budapest. He is also professor at the Institute of History, Eszterházy Károly University, Eger.

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