Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
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
Katherine Verdery (1991) studied this question.