000 04299cam a2200433Li 4500
001 ocn829905896
003 OCoLC
005 20240726105432.0
008 130312s2012 ne a ob 001 0 eng d
040 _aYDXCP
_beng
_erda
_cYDXCP
_dOCLCO
_dE7B
_dOCLCQ
_dNT
020 _a9048515653
_q((electronic)l(electronic)ctronic)l((electronic)l(electronic)ctronic)ctronic bk.
020 _a9789048515653
_q((electronic)l(electronic)ctronic)l((electronic)l(electronic)ctronic)ctronic bk.
029 1 _aAU@
_b000051601042
043 _ae-ge---
_ae-gw---
_ae-gx---
050 0 4 _aHC290
_b.M384 2012
049 _aNTA
100 1 _aVeenis, Milena.
_e1
245 1 0 _aMaterial fantasies
_bexpectations of the Western consumer world among the East Germans /
_cMilena Veenis.
260 _aAmsterdam :
_bAmsterdam University Press,
_c(c)2012.
300 _a1 online resource (280 pages) :
_billustrations.
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
347 _adata file
_2rda
490 1 _aTechnology and European history series ;
_v6
504 _a2
520 0 _a"This study of East German fantasies of material abundance across the border, both before and after the fall of communism, shows the close and intricate relation between ideology and fantasy in upholding social life. In 1989, news broadcasts all over the world were dominated for weeks by images of East Germans crossing the Berlin Wall to West Germany. The images, representing the fall of communism and the democratic will of the people, also showed East Germans' excitement at finally being able to enter the western consumer paradise. But what exactly had they expected to find on the other side of the Wall? Why did they shed tears of joy when for the first time in their lives, they stepped inside West German shops? And why were they prepared to pay more than 10 percent of their average monthly wage for a pineapple? Drawing on fifteen months of research in the fast-changing post-communist East Germany, Veenis unravels the perennial truths about the interrelationships of fantasies of material wealth, personal fulfillment and social cohesion. She argues persuasively that the far-fetched socialist and capitalist promises of consumption as the road to ultimate well-being, the partial realization and partial corruption thereof, the implicit social and psychological interests underlying the politicized promises in both countries form the breeding ground for the development of materialist, cargo-cult-like fantasies, in which material well-being came to be seen as the place of "fulfillment and ultimate arrival"."--Publisher's website.
505 0 0 _aFieldwork ; Reactions to my presence ; Material culture and tell-tale one-liners ; Generalization, differentiation. --
_tGermany 1945: a country in ruins ; material and social trauma ; In search of a hold. --
_tThe GDR: future promises ; The past rewritten ; A new future: material well-being. --
_tMaterial realizations ; Severe, rational and centrally planned ; "Far too modern for our people," and economic gaps ; Queuing and mutual equality. --
_tThe east German dictatorship ; Theorizing dictatorship ; Local conversations on dictatorship ; Irony, a caring state, and the Nische. --
_tSilenced pasts ; Different perspectives and jokes about the stasi ; The stasi's methods and the taboo on more ; Egalitarianism, crab antics, and adjustment. --
_tWestern promise ; Irresistible prosperity ; East Germans' identification with the west ; The material as fulfillment. --
_tShattered illusions ; The wende ; East Germans' dissatisfaction ; Three reasons for east German despondency. --
_tConclusion.
530 _a2
_ub
650 0 _aPost-communism
_zGermany (East)
650 0 _aConsumption (Economics)
_zGermany (East)
650 0 _aQuality of life
_zGermany (West)
650 0 _aQuality of life
_zGermany (East)
655 1 _aElectronic Books.
856 4 0 _uhttps://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=654451&site=eds-live&custid=s3260518
_zClick to access digital title | log in using your CIU ID number and my.ciu.edu password
942 _cOB
_D
_eEB
_hHC..
_m2012
_QOL
_R
_x
_8NFIC
_2LOC
994 _a11
_bNT
999 _c100266
_d100266
902 _a1
_bCynthia Snell
_c1
_dCynthia Snell