The startling transformations of eastern European polities during 1989 offer anthropologists a remarkable opportunity: firsthand observation of the “transition from socialism,” the process by which the internal organization of these societies and their place within western political and economic circuits will be reconfigured. As a contribution to conceptualizing the possible forms of the transition, this article offers a theoretical model of the “socialism” from which these societies begin their departure. The article concludes by suggesting some research problems that follow from the model. [theory, socialism, eastern Europe, political economy, cultural politics, social change]
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Katherine Verdery (1991) studied this question.
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