The ontology of socialism

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

The ontology of socialism

Jadwiga Staniszkis ; edited and translated by Peggy Watson

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1992

Other Title

Ontologia socjalizmu

Available at  / 13 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Translation of: Ontologia socjalizmu

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This work represents an attempt to examine and define the essential nature of socialism as it existed in Eastern Europe prior to the events of 1989. The empirical material on which the book is based is drawn from a wide range of sources, but primarily from the Polish experience. Jadwiga Staniszkis' analysis not only aims to advance our understanding of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, but also provides a context within which to view current changes in the region. Dr Staniszkis deals with three pivotal paradoxes of the socialist system: the fact that it is a mode of production devoid of genuine economic interests; that it is a political structure where power is devoid of political content; and that it is a social structure devoid of civil society. She also analyzes the contradictions of the colonial situation in Eastern Europe, with its two levels of dependency. The book's main feature is its attempt to generate and use conceptual categories for the analysis of socialism which are not just adaptations of concepts which have been developed to analyze the capitalist system, since often these symply do not apply.

Table of Contents

  • The Ontology of Socialism: A First Approximation
  • The Socialist Mode of Production
  • The Dynamics of Dependence
  • Power without Politics
  • Formation Theory and the Theory of Social Structure
  • The Constitution of Subjects in Socialism
  • Conclusion: Continuity and Change
  • Afterword: History and Chance

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top