Miklóssy / Ilic Competition in Socialist Society

Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-317-75274-5
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 226 Seiten

Reihe: Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe

This book explores how the concept of "competition", which is usually associated with market economies, operated under state socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where the socialist system, based on command economic planning and state-centred control over society, was supposed to emphasise "co-operation", rather than competitive mechanisms. The book considers competition in a wider range of industries and social fields across the Soviet bloc, and shows how the gradual adoption and adaptation of Western practices led to the emergence of more open competitiveness in socialist society. The book includes discussion of the state’s view of competition, and focuses especially on how competition operated at the grassroots level. It covers politico-economic reforms and their impact, both overall and at the enterprise level; competition in the cultural sphere; and the huge effect of increasing competition on socialist ways of thinking.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Miklóssy, Katalin

Ilic, Melanie

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Competition in State Socialism Katalin Miklóssy and Melanie Ilic 1. ‘To Catch Up and Overtake’ the West: Soviet Discourse on Socialist Competition Jutta Scherrer 2. Optimal Planning, Optimal Economy, Optimal Life? The Kosygin Reforms, 1965–72 Aappo Kähönen 3. More Efficiency via Democracy: Debates over Reforming the GDR Dieter Segert 4. The Kirov Kolkhoz: A Socialist Success Story Antti Sarasmo 5. Selling Fashion to the Soviets: Competitive Practices in Polish Clothes Export in the Early 1960s Mila Oiva 6. Hotel Intercontinental in Bucharest: Competitive Advantage for the Socialist Tourist Industry in Romania Elena Dragomir 7. Competing for Popularity: Song Contests and Interactive Television in Communist Hungary Katalin Miklóssy 8. The World Youth Festival as an Arena of the ‘Cultural Olympics’: Meanings of Competition in Soviet Culture in the 1940s and 1950s Pia Koivunen 9. Mole Holes in the Iron Curtain: The Success Story of the Krtek Animated Films Riikka Palonkorpi 10. Women and Competition in State Socialist Societies: Soviet Beauty Contests Melanie Ilic 11. Concluding Remarks: Typology and Consequences of Competition Katalin Miklóssy

Über Autor(innen)

Katalin Miklóssy is an Assistant Professor in Political History at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland

Melanie Ilic is Professor of Soviet History at the University of Gloucestershire, UK