Q: Could you give a brief description of your book?
The book examines East Europeans’ complex experiences of postsocialist transformation, a period of new freedoms and opportunities but also new challenges and frustrations. The book sheds light on the unanticipated and uneven ways change was experienced illustrating that, for some, 1989 did not signify a decisive break from socialism as the past three decades have been characterized by progress and reversals, ruptures and continuities.
Q: What is the goal of your book? What motivated you to write it?
We were motivated, in part, by popular disenchantment with democratization and marketization and the increased appeal of populism in the region. At the same time, we wanted to illuminate how political, economic, and legal changes, including neoliberalism, populism, and social conservatism, have affected people’s everyday lives and reflections on socialism—and even early postsocialism. More generally, we hoped to shed light on—and thus validate—quotidian experiences and recollections of the transformation. By showcasing ordinary voices, we seek to complicate dominant narratives of transition that neglect the varied ways political and economic change have shaped daily life.
Q: What are a few things that are being studied for the first time in this book?
The role—and popularity—of amateur historians in Bulgaria in fashioning a glorious and thus appealing narrative of the past during periods of tumult; the failure of seasoned socialist-era entrepreneurs in Hungary to thrive under postsocialism as a result of neoliberal policies; support of populist candidates among Czech industrial laborers who received generous severance packages and were relatively successful in adapting to the neoliberal climate.
Q: Is there anything that shocked or surprised you while working on this project?
While perhaps not wholly shocking, the revelation that some sexual minorities in Poland felt safer under a one-party system that curtailed their civil rights than they currently do in a democratic, EU-member state; the tragic reality that women in Romania are denied their legal right to abortion in public hospitals on the basis of doctors’ moral opposition to the procedure; the lingering impact of The Changes on East German adults who experienced this period as youths.
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