Overview
How did political power function in the communist regimes of East Central Europe after 1945? Making Sense of Dictatorship addresses this question with a particular focus on the acquiescent behavior of the majority of the population until, at the end of the 1980s, their rejection of state socialism and its authoritarian world. The authors refer to the concept of Sinnwelt, the way in which groups and individuals made sense of the world around them. The essays focus on the dynamics of everyday life and the extent to which the relationship between citizens and the state was collaborative or antagonistic. Each chapter addresses a different aspect of life in this period, including modernization, consumption and leisure, and the everyday experiences of “ordinary people,” single mothers, or those adopting alternative lifestyles. Empirically rich and conceptually original, the essays in this volume suggest new ways to understand how people make sense of everyday life under dictatorial regimes.
Full Product Details
Author: Celia Donert (University Lecturer in Central European History, University of Cambridge) ,
Ana Kladnik (Researcher, Institute of Contemporary History in Ljubljana) ,
Martin Sabrow (Professor of Recent and Contemporary History, Humboldt University, Berlin)
Publisher: Central European University Press
Imprint: Central European University Press
Weight: 0.600kg
ISBN: 9789633864272
ISBN 10: 9633864275
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 15 April 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Vsak izmed prispevkov, ki jo sestavljajo, na izviren in svojstven nacin razresuje napetost med empirijo in teoretsko zastavljenim okvirom. A vendar je tisto, zaradi cesar monografija najbolj izstopa, skupno osnovno razumevanje problematike, prisotno pri vseh avtorjih: v zgodovinopisju je malo prostora za crno-bele slike in mnogo prostora za raziskovanje razlicnosti, nians in nenehno spreminjajocih se pogledov. https://ojs.inz.si/pnz/article/view/4051 -- Tjasa Konovsek * Prispevki za novejso zgodovino * The book offers concrete examples of what research on socialist dictatorships can mean. It is in the specific cases that the interconnectedness of the pressures that socialist dictatorships exerted on their populations, the opportunities that these same regimes offered, and the strategies that populations and communities used to deal with them in lived practice, is well illustrated. Making Sense of Dictatorship provides insight into how different actors across the societies of socialist dictatorships struggled to make sense of their social reality. The Struggle for Legitimacy / A Contribution to the Scholarship on Domination and Participation in the Socialist Dictatorships of East-Central Europe (cas.cz) -- Vaclav Sixta * Soudobe dejiny *
A long-awaited, comprehensive analysis of the inner dynamics of state socialism. The leading historians of communist East Central Europe explain how people--from party-state apparatus to young parents--domesticated and accommodated the experience of dictatorship, while creating their own meanings of normality and good life.--Malgorzata Mazurek This collection of essays represents an up-to-date scholarly account of the history of the Eastern bloc, focusing on the dynamics of everyday life and how they were situated in terms of a collaborative or antagonistic relationship between citizens and party/governments. By paying acute attention to conceptual issues, Making Sense of Dictatorship offers new ways and new material with which interpretative frameworks can be constructed. Thanks to the unifying theme, the high quality of the editorship, and the impressive contributions--which together have a unity and significance that exceeds their individual merits--this volume makes an unusual and important contribution to scholarship on the state socialist era in East Central Europe.--Mark B. Smith
Author Information
Dr Celia Donert is University Lecturer in 20th Century Central European History, since c. 1900 at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge. Ana Kladnik is Researcher at the Institute of Contemporary History, Ljubljana. Martin Sabrow was from 2004 to 2021 Director of the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam and Professor of Recent and Contemporary History at Humboldt University, Berlin.
