Beyond Anticommunism: The Fragility of Class Analysis in Romania. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ban, Cornel
• Editors: Ost, David
• Is Part Of: East European politics and societies. Volume 29:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 640
• Page End: 650
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Romania -- class analysis -- Great Recession -- neoliberalism; Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Politics and government -- 1989- -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; 947.0005
• DOI: 10.1177/0888325415599197
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0888-3254

Abstract

The debate about socio-economic inequalities and class has become increasingly important in mainstream academic and political debates. This article shows that during the late 2000s class analysis was rediscovered in Romania both as an analytical category and as a category of practice. The evidence suggests that this was the result of two converging processes: the deepening crisis of Western capitalism after 2008 and the country's increasingly transnational networks of young scholars, journalists, and civil society actors. Although a steady and focused interest in class analysis is a novelty in Romania's academia, media, and political life and has the potential to change the political conversation in the future, so far the social fields where this analysis is practiced have remained relatively marginal.