Post-socialism: conceptual evolution and future perspectives. A critical analysis Cover Image

Postsocialismul: evoluție conceptuală și perspective viitoare. O analiză critică
Post-socialism: conceptual evolution and future perspectives. A critical analysis

Author(s): Cosmina Elena Mihalcea
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, History and theory of sociology, Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: Editura Eikon
Keywords: postsocialism; involution; imitation; zombie socialism; transition; Eastern Europe;

Summary/Abstract: Burawoy (1999), Eyal (2001), Berdahl (2006), Cervinkova (2012) and others have proposed the concept of „postsocialism” as a way of describing the gap between socialism and capitalism. But, in a world marked by “rearrangements, reconfigurations and recombinations that yield new interweavings of the multiple social logics” (Stark, & Bruszt, 1998) what does postsocialism entail? This article aims to provide an overview of the different perspectives regarding the meaning of postsocialism, by bringing together and examining ideas represented in the theoretical literature. Starting from the idea of reframing the understanding of the past, this analysis explores postsocialism, as a process, from four perspectives: imitation, involution, emergence or zombie socialism. The critique serves as a starting point for future directions in postsocialism conceptualisations, in order to better understand the present based on the past.

  • Issue Year: 19/2021
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 192-216
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Romanian