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Deetatization of Culture, Privatization of Politics: The Case of the Publishing Houses in Postcommunist Romania
[journal article]
Abstract The paper addresses the process of postcommunist denationalization by focusing on the privatization of cultural institutions, as it occurred in the case of major Romanian publishing houses in recent decades (Editura Politică/ Humanitas, Univers, Minerva, etc.). Our approach acknowledges the leading ... view more
The paper addresses the process of postcommunist denationalization by focusing on the privatization of cultural institutions, as it occurred in the case of major Romanian publishing houses in recent decades (Editura Politică/ Humanitas, Univers, Minerva, etc.). Our approach acknowledges the leading role of humanist intellectuals in launching and legitimizing devices of privatization immediately after 1989, a curious phenomenon which reasserted the larger pattern of literature-centrism developed in the former socialist cultures. These intellectuals’ enthusiastic siding with principles of market capitalism, from their new positions of book publishers and cultural managers, paved the way for the rapid implementation of neoliberal policies. At the same time, leading the process of privatization helped these intellectual groups gain the upper hand in the public narrative on main ideological topics, such as the memory of communism, the interwar far right, and the path towards Westernization. Our analysis traces several empirical stages of this particular privatization of culture: 1) the legislative frame of denationalization and market liberalization; 2) the publishing policies and the promotion of certain book collections; 3) the dissemination of anticommunism that enabled publishing houses themselves to serve as political platforms. Overall, we aim to explain how this intellectual enterprise failed to ensure direct economic and cultural profits but was spectacularly successful in establishing a long-term recipe for neoliberal restructuring in several areas of society.... view less
Keywords
privatization; publishing house; post-communist society; neoliberalism; book trade
Classification
Special areas of Departmental Policy
Free Keywords
book industry
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 382-397
Journal
Studia Politica: Romanian Political Science Review, 20 (2020) 3
Issue topic
Institutional Reforms of post 1989 Eastern European Cultural Production
ISSN
1582-4551
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 1.0