{"product_id":"getting-by-in-postsocialist-romania-labor-the-body-and-working-class-culture-paperback-softback-9780253219404","title":"Getting by in Postsocialist Romania; Labor, the Body, and Working-Class Culture (Paperback \/ softback) 9780253219404","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eGetting by in Postsocialist Romania\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eLabor, the Body, and Working-Class Culture\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eDavid A. Kideckel (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780253219404\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 27 February 2008\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e288 pages, 11 b\u0026amp;w photos, 2 maps\u003cbr\u003e23.5 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm, 0.417 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Kideckel's extensive fieldwork among Romania's Jiu Valley and Fagaraş coal miners, coupled with the workers' narratives quoted throughout the book, lends authority to his detailed analysis of the denigrating conditions suffered by \"once celebrated\" people. The regions under study were prosperous coal-producing areas that attracted a multicultural workforce. In the postsocialist era, as a transformed Romania becomes a consumer society, the miners are the \"canaries in the coal mine of postsocialism,\" Kideckel asserts. The workers strive to maintain \"a tenuous hold on life, work, family, and community\" in the face of economic restructuring, privatization, and buyouts. The security and status they felt in socialist society have disappeared. This book contains many firsthand accounts from workers, grounding Kideckel's generalizations in the gritty lives endured by the miners and their families. Kideckel's contribution is the eighth in the publisher's \"New Anthropologies of Europe\" series. It is emblematic of the series goal to publish ethnographic manuscripts that examine topics such as globalization, ethnicity, and market reform and, at the same time, contribute to theory building in social sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — Choice\"— L. De Danaan, emerita, Evergreen State College, April 2009\u003cbr\u003e \"The book is a valuable contribution to the field of postsocialist studies offering a compassionate discussion of the day-to-day experience of the depressed former industrial worker. It is engagingly written . . . by the author who has over thirty years of ethnographic research experience in Romania. It makes an excellent text for both undergraduate and graduate courses that deal with working-class culture, postsocialism, Eastern Europe, as well as social transformation and political economy to show how consumption and production are intimately related in the development of working-class identity.46 2012\"—\u003ci\u003eCanadian American Slavic Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Kideckel's book gives a voice to the Romanian working class and lets them speak for themselves ... [he] states in a pointed manner that the meaning of 'getting by' has shifted from 'manipulating the system in one's interest' to managing basic survival' in every sphere of life.June, 2011\"—\u003ci\u003eH-SAE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Overall, this is a very valuable book that sheds considerable light on a subject that is rarely covered in most literature on Romania.Vol. 88.3, July 2010\"—\u003ci\u003eSlavonic and East European Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"What makes the book a 'must-read' for those interested in post-socialist Eastern Europe, or labour issues, is the fact that David Kideckel listens. He transforms the detailed account of day-to-day lives into authentic carefully interpreted written testimonies. This corpus of reflections makes an important contribution to Eastern European studies and reading it cannot leave a heart unmoved by the simple but powerful experiences that an entire social class was and is struggling with in post-socialist Romania.Vol. 61.9 Nov. 2009\"—Gabriela Walker, \u003ci\u003eUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \". . . the text is wholly evocative, compellingly written, and clearly organized. 'Getting By in Postsocialist Romania' should appeal to a wide range of audiences, including scholars of postsocialist studies, those interested in issues of economic policy and development, health, and gender studies, and to students at all levels.Vol. 36.2 May 2009\"—Karen Kapusta-Pofahl, \u003ci\u003eWashburn University\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"David Kideckel challenges celebratory images of postsocialism by focusing on the often neglected working class and allowing the disenfranchised to speak for themselves. In so doing he provides a contribution to the ethnography of eastern Europe that speaks poignantly to broader discussions of work, class, and gender under neoliberalism.\"—Gerald Creed, \u003ci\u003eHunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis compelling ethnographic study describes how two groups of Romanian industrial workers have fared since the end of socialism. Once labor's elite, the celebrated coal miners of the Jiu Valley and the chemical workers of the Fagaras region had many social privileges and often derived genuine satisfaction from their work. Today, they are a rarely noted casualty of postsocialist transformations. Fear, distance, and alienation are the physical manifestations of stress experienced due to their precarious job status, declining health, and loss of a social safety net. Kideckel traces these issues in the context of labor, political relationships, domestic and community life, gender identities, and health. Drawing on more than three decades of fieldwork, he presents many narratives from select individuals, in their own words, providing a poignant and illuminating perspective on the everyday lives of ordinary people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eContents\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e 1. Getting By in Postsocialism: Labor, Bodies, Voices\u003cbr\u003e 2. How Workers Became \"Others\": Talking Alienation\u003cbr\u003e 3. Postsocialist Labor Pains: Fear, Distance, and Narrative in the Workplace\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Postsocialist Body Politic\u003cbr\u003e 5. Houses of Stone or of Straw? Postsocialist Worker Communities\u003cbr\u003e 6. Strangers in Their Own Skin: Workers and Gender in Postsocialism\u003cbr\u003e 7. The Embodied Enemy: Stress, Health, and Agency\u003cbr\u003e 8. What Is to Be Done?\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Works Cited\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52739369566488,"sku":"9780253219404","price":19.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/getting-by-in-postsocialist-romania-labor-the-body-and-working-class-culture-paperback-softback-9780253219404","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}