Perspectives on Eastern European retailing and consumption

ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, as research on retailing and consumption in socialist Eastern Europe has expanded, scholars have challenged the idea that the history of ‘consumer culture’ is defined by the Western experience. Many argue that socialist authorities and citizens charted an alternative path to consumer modernity and conclude that managing consumer demand was as critical to socialism’s survival, as to its collapse. The use of unofficial sources, including personal correspondence and interviews, to illuminate the meanings citizens ascribed to consumer goods in their personal lives and in socialist societies have yielded rich insights about the exercise and limits of state power, the relationship between socialist authorities and citizens, and daily life under socialism.