scholarly journals The Entrepreneur in “Transformation Cinema”: Representing the Economic Changes of the 1990s in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542098015
Author(s):  
Veronika Pehe

This article analyses how economic change after 1989 was perceived and rooted in society through cultural representations, specifically in the film production of Poland and Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia). The starting premise of this investigation is that popular commercial films, alongside the media and discourse of politicians and other key actors of the systemic transformation, also informed ideas about the free market circulating in the public sphere. Filmmakers, faced with the new realities brought about initially by the gradual liberalization of the economy in the late 1980s and later the systemic change of the economic transformation in both countries, immediately turned to capturing and fictionalizing the changes surrounding them. They presented audiences with role models of what it means to be a capitalist, but also tales of warning. This article investigates the “transformation cinema” of the 1990s, focusing on the figure of the entrepreneur and private enterprise. It examines how filmmakers searched for a visual language to critique or affirm the new social order, but also continued to work with inherited modes from the late socialist era. The article asserts that while the economic expectations conveyed through cinema focused largely on structuring the imagination of a new middle class in Poland, Czech(oslovak) cinema adopted a more sceptical outlook, suggesting that the promises of the free market were not available to “ordinary” working people.

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (9) ◽  
pp. 804-816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Szahaj

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the direction of economic changes affecting the Polish economy after the political transformation of the early 1990s. Design/methodology/approach – First, the author defines the phenomenon of cognitive capitalism. Subsequently, the social and psychological consequences of this form of management and its ideological character are presented. Finally, the effects of the application of cognitive capitalism to the Polish reality are considered and the desirable adjustments of the Polish capitalism are suggested. Findings – According to the theses of the paper: the negative effects of the Polish economic transformation are largely the result of an uncritical acceptance of the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism, and the fight against the high social costs of the functioning of market economy calls for an adjustment of the Polish economy, which would bring it closer to the Scandinavian model of capitalism. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows the process of economic transformation in Poland from the perspective of the changes taking place in the bosom of the western capitalism, in particular of the Anglo-Saxon type. Practical implications – The author of the paper suggests a number of possible adjustments to the Polish model of capitalism, in particular calling for the introduction of elements of planning and state intervention into the model, the revival of municipal and cooperative ownership, as well as the introduction of corporatist practices. Originality/value – The author of the paper criticizes the thesis of the inevitability of the radically liberal transformation of the Polish economy, widely accepted in the literature. Moreover, he sees the relationship between the Polish free-market changes and the processes of “cognitivization” of western capitalism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
Piotr Kłodkowski

The Republic of India, as probably the most culturally and religiously diverse country in the world, has built a very unique socio-political system which is based on cross-cultural compromises between various  communities. The ideological foundations of secularism and socialist development were implemented by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. For almost half a century, they symbolised the identity of the state and constituted the essential elements of every official narrative by the Indian National Congress. Nehru was also the maker of India’s main foreign policy vectors, which were generally approved by subsequent  governments. Although the ideology of socialist development was eventually replaced with a free market economy, the concept of secularism remained relevant in the public sphere. The author presents the gradual process of socio-economic transformation and describes the international context of building the image of the country in the 20th century. With the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power in 2014, the old philosophy of Nehruvian secularism is gradually being undermined by the followers of Hindutva, Hindu fundamentalists. The author analyses the three-layered narratives constructed by the ruling coalition and widely promoted both at home and abroad. The third layer, being most radical, is directed against the Muslim community which is the biggest religious minority in India. The Hindutva ideology, although not always clearly postulated by the current government, may contribute to communal polarisations and the eruption of interfaith violence in the years to come.


1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 856-907
Author(s):  
Pnina Werbner ◽  
Harshad C. Keval ◽  
Lydia Martens ◽  
Janet Thomas ◽  
John Urry ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Georg Menz

This chapter summarizes some of the book’s main arguments and provides avenues for future research. We point to the ideational turn as well as to culturally based enquiries into Comparative Political Economy as offering particular promise. Finally, this chapter additionally points to two major sources of societal and economic transformation, discussing in passing other major economic changes, such as increasing automation, advances in artificial intelligence, and the roll-out of robots across a variety of economic sectors. These two potentially explosive sources of change include energy security, a field in which the race for autarchy is juxtaposed with limits to the practical applicability of renewable energy sources. Environmental factors and environmental degradation similarly impose dramatic constraints to further economic development and might induce a dramatic reconfiguration.


Author(s):  
Maidul Islam

Close to the turn of the century and almost 45 years after Independence, India opened its doors to free-market liberalization. Although meant as the promise to a better economic tomorrow, three decades later, many feel betrayed by the economic changes ushered in by this new financial era. Here is a book that probes whether India’s economic reforms have aided the development of Indian Muslims who have historically been denied the fruits of economic development. Maidul Islam points out that in current political discourse, the ‘Muslim question’ in India is not articulated in terms of demands for equity. Instead, the political leadership camouflages real issues of backwardness, prejudice, and social exclusion with the rhetoric of identity and security. Historically informed, empirically grounded, and with robust analytical rigour, the book tries to explore connections between multiple forms of Muslim marginalization, the socio-economic realities facing the community, and the formation of modern Muslim identity in the country. At a time when post-liberalization economic policies have created economic inequality and joblessness for significant sections of the population including Muslims, the book proposes working towards a radical democratic deepening in India.


Human Affairs ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olatunji Oyeshile

Sense of Community and its Sustenance in AfricaThere is no gainsaying the fact that Africa is inundated with many problems which have made the development and the attainment of social order, conceived in normative terms, daunting tasks. It is also a fact that there are many causes of this scenario such as political marginalization, ethnic chauvinism, economic mismanagement, religious bigotry and corruption in its various facets. However, in this disquisition we identify the lack of the development, internalization and application of the sense of community, loosely tagged community consciousness, as a major factor that has aggravated the African crisis and which if addressed can reverse the order of things positively. It is the contention of this paper that fundamentally in the case of Africa, as shown in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria, there has been a blind pursuit of private or individual interests to the detriment of the public sphere or public good. Ironically too, when leaders put up repressive laws in the pretense to pursue the public good, the underlying motive has always been the pursuit of selfish private whims and caprices. We noted that in contemporary Africa a major way towards a desired level of social order and development consists in engendering the required sense of community (a situation in which there is mutual co-operation, interdependence and fellow-feeling) on which other developments can be predicated. Although, the quest and realization of the sense of community is not a grand solution to our myriad of problems in Africa, at least it forms the basis on which we can start to address our problems in Africa in a meaningful way.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 37-52

The article presents the results of an analysis of the spatial distribution of the construction of new dwellings in the Czech Republic in the period after 1989. This period represents a major turnaround in the Czech society and the associated transformation of the Czech economy from a centrally planned economy toward a free market. These changes were also significantly reflected in theconstructionof new dwellings. The article analyses the spatio-temporal evolution of the constructionof new dwellingsat the level of the Czech Republic and its partial spatial structures. The results indicate significant differences in the regional distribution of the construction of new dwellingsin the Czech Republic.


Author(s):  
Berceste Gülçin Özdemir

The concept of social gender is an interdisciplinary matter of debate and is still questioned today. Making sense of this concept is understood by the ongoing codes in the social order. However, the fact that men are still positioned as dominating women in the contrast of the public sphere/private sphere prevents the making sense of the concept of gender. This study questions the concept of social gender through the female characters and male characters presented in the film Tersine Dünya (1993) within the framework of Judith Butler's thoughts regarding the notion of the subject. The thoughts of feminist film theorists also bring the strategies of representation of female characters up for discussion. Butler's thoughts and the discourses of feminist film theorists will enable both making sense of social gender and a more concrete understanding of the concept of the subject. The possibility of deconstruction of patriarchal codes by using classical narrative cinema conventions is also brought up for discussion in the examined film.


2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Věžník ◽  
L. Bartošová

Transformation of Czech agriculture led to significant changes, which were mirrored in the crystallisation of rather large territorial differences. Clear regional disproportions are a fundamental problem for the state as a whole, therefore, it is important to provide aid for the regions that lag behind in economic development by introducing sensible regional policies. This situation is still more complicated in agriculture, as this transformation to  free market economy results in the unequal regional development in relation to  natural environment,  regional traditions and the level of rural settlement in addition to the phenomena such as price liberalisation  and the flow of goods, capital and population, among other. At the moment, the principal aims of regional agricultural policies are the preservation of regional productivity, the settlement of problematic and endangered regions and the support of a balanced regional development. The primary goal of this article is to indicate some of the largest regional differentiations in the agriculture of the Czech Republic. The purpose is to give an increased consideration to the restructuring of agricultural production, the environment and the social and general economic milieu in which it is located


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