Everyday Life under Communism and After

Lifestyle and Consumption in Hungary, 1945-2000
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-963-386-376-3
Verlag: Central European University Press

Buch, Englisch, 508 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 1100 g

By providing a survey of consumption and lifestyle in Hungary during the second half of the twentieth century, this book shows how common people lived during and after tumultuous regime changes. After an introduction covering the late 1930s, the study centers on the communist era, and goes on to describe changes in the post-communist period with its legacy of state socialism.

Tibor Valuch poses a series of questions. Who could be called rich or poor and how did they live in the various periods? How did living, furnishings, clothing, income, and consumption mirror the structure of the society and its transformations? How could people accommodate their lifestyles to the political and social system? How specific to the regime was consumption after the communist takeover, and how did consumption habits change after the demise of state socialism? The answers, based on micro-histories, statistical data, population censuses and surveys help to understand the complexities of daily life, not only in Hungary, but also in other communist regimes in east-central Europe, with insights on their antecedents and afterlives.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Valuch, Tibor

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures, List of Tables, List of Acronyms, Introduction, Chapter One The Study of Hungarian Everyday Life: Historiography, Methods, and Concepts, Chapter Two Two Hundred Peng?s a Month, Five Hundred Forints, Two Thousand Forints…: Financial Circumstances, Prices, Wages, and Income Inequalities in Everyday Life, Chapter Three From Plentiful Privation to a Consumer Society: The Changes and Characteristics of Consumer Consumption, Chapter Four This Is How We Lived: Housing Conditions, Usage of Living Space, and Interior Decoration, Chapter Five “Well-dressed and Fashionable”: Changes in Clothing Styles, Habits, and Fashion, Chapter Six “We Ate, We Drank, We Filled Our Stomachs”: Nutrition, Eating, and Dietary Habits, Conclusions, Appendix, Bibliography, Index

Über Autor(innen)

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.