Synthetic socialism : plastics & dictatorship in the German Democratic Republic / Eli Rubin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rubin, Eli, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Socialism and society.

Plastics industry and trade--Germany (East).

Plastics industry and trade.

Consumption (Economics)--Germany (East).

Consumption (Economics).

Consumer behavior--Germany (East).

Consumer behavior.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill ; London : The University of North Carolina Press, [2008]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Eli Rubin takes an innovative approach to consumer culture to explore questions of political consensus and consent and the impact of ideology on everyday life in the former East Germany. Synthetic Socialism explores the history of East Germany through the production and use of a deceptively simple material: plastic. Rubin investigates the connections between the communist government, its Bauhaus-influenced designers, its retooled postwar chemical industry, and its general consumer population. He argues that East Germany was neither a totalitarian state nor a niche society but rather a s

Contents:

1958, the year of consumption and chemicals

Plastics and the victory of functionalist design, 1945-1962

Plastics and the socialist apartment of the future

Plastic consumer goods in the everyday world of East Germany, 1958-1969

Centralization : plastics, design, and total control, 1962-1972.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9798890882660

9781469606774

1469606771

OCLC:

823170589