Class in Postsocialism by Ondřej Daniel
Národopisná revue [Journal of Ethnology] 2023, 3, pp. 167-176.
Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics 2023, 17, 2, pp. 243-260.
In Sonia CANCIAN, Peter LEESE and Soňa MIKULOVÁ (eds.). Migrant Emotions: Inclusion and Exclusion... more In Sonia CANCIAN, Peter LEESE and Soňa MIKULOVÁ (eds.). Migrant Emotions: Inclusion and Exclusion in Transnational Spaces. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press 2024, pp. 151-167.
In Yvetta KAJANOVÁ (ed.) Ubuntu Fusion Music. Berlin: Peter Lang 2024, pp. 181-196.
In RYCHLÍKOVÁ, Apolena and Veronika PEHE (eds.). Věčná devadesátá. Proměny české společnosti po r... more In RYCHLÍKOVÁ, Apolena and Veronika PEHE (eds.). Věčná devadesátá. Proměny české společnosti po roce 1989 [The Eternal Nineties. Changes in Czech Society after 1989]. Brno: CPress 2023, pp. 131-145.
Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 2022
This study explores the class origins of right-wing populism among the Czech working class and hi... more This study explores the class origins of right-wing populism among the Czech working class and highlights the mobilising power of popular music in this context. My focus is on Ortel, a “nationalist rock” band active in the 2010s. Ortel purported to speak to “ordinary people” as opposed to elites, and its fan base still consists largely of working-class people. This study draws on articles from Czech mainstream media outlets as well as other more specialist material. It historicises the popularity of Ortel, which arose from the strategic normalisation of the Far Right and its positions. The latter were cleansed of the overt racism of the 1990s during the post-2008 economic crises.
Arbeit – Bewegung – Geschichte, 2022
Der Beitrag widmet sich dem subkulturellen Antifaschismus in der postsozialistischen Tschechoslow... more Der Beitrag widmet sich dem subkulturellen Antifaschismus in der postsozialistischen Tschechoslowakei und ihren Nachfolgestaaten. In diesen Kontexten war Antifaschismus vor allem eine Reaktion auf die Gewalt rassistischer Skinheads. Musikszenen, die hauptsächlich vom Punk- und Skinhead-Milieu ausgegingen, spielten eine Schlüsselrolle. Indem wir auf zwei weitere zentrale Kategorien – Jugend und Klasse – hinweisen, versuchen wir, die bisherige Forschung zu erweitern.
Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 2022
This article aims to illuminate the links between culture and class in the post-socialist years i... more This article aims to illuminate the links between culture and class in the post-socialist years in the Czech Republic. To this end, it considers the reception of two music acts—the country folk duo Bratři Nedvědi in the 1990s and the “nationalist rock” band Ortel in the 2010s—and discusses the labeling of their fans based on their social class profiles. My analysis draws on mainstream Czech media coverage of these acts, materials reflecting fans’ perspectives, and broader scholarly debates about the links between music consumption and social class. One similarity between these bands lay in their decision to forsake their original subcultural fans for a more mainstream audience. A second commonality relates to the dismissal of their mainstream fans by cultural elites, who saw them as backward and out of step with the norms of liberal democracy and Western capitalism. These critics often described these types of Czech music as lowbrow and regressive. Meanwhile, the two bands continued to insist that they were making songs for “ordinary people” rather than elites: their fan bases, while not homogenous, remained largely working class. This study considers key intersections between class, age, ethnicity, and gender in Czech post-socialist society. I argue that certain kinds of local musical taste reflect class differences, which are further shaped by age, gender, and political orientation.
Evaluation of music by its listeners and fans is influenced by large social categories, such as a... more Evaluation of music by its listeners and fans is influenced by large social categories, such as age, gender, ethnicity, race, (dis)ability, socioeconomic profile, and social class. In the paper, the authors focus on the role that the complexity of cultural capital plays in the evaluation of music. In this respect, they follow Pierre Bourdieu, who considered taste to be the most significant manifestation of habitus, which he understood as a field of cultural practices in which a person or group feel comfortable, but which is also strongly determined by socio-economic status. The authors aim to open a debate about the evaluation of pseudofolklore and hybrid forms of folk and popular music, even in relation to the category of world music. Specifically, they are primarily interested in debates devoted to these musical forms that are led both by their listeners, fans, and their opponents, and secondly, in the expert debate of music journalism and the academic community. At the same time, these debates reflect topics of deep social relevance, which have long been facing not only Czech, but also, for example, Serbian and Austrian societies. The authors extend the questions of social cohesion or fragmentation into bubbles determined by taste. They point out some transgressive musical practices, which, however, confirm the general logic of colonization or gentrification of so-called lower musical forms.
KÖLBL, Marko and Fritz TRÜMPI. Music and Democracy. Vienna: mdwPress, 2021, pp. 153-170., 2021
Fascism. Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies, 2020
With its roots in the political, economic and social changes of 1989/1990, the Czech antifascist ... more With its roots in the political, economic and social changes of 1989/1990, the Czech antifascist movement was initially characterized by its young supporters, who came mostly from subcultural and anarchist circles. When violent far-right skinheads increased their attacks in the country between 1990 and 1992, local antifascists were the main group to physically confront them. Three decades later, as a result of generational and tactical changes, Czech antifascists' agenda is largely at odds with the class politics that drive important parts of the anarchist movement. At the same time, the antifascist movement retains some subcultural traits that have become depoliticized. Its strategy is now limited to monitoring far-right activists online and running cultural events. This study analyzes internal debates over the antifascist movement's positions and reflects on their development over time.
Narodna umjetnost : hrvatski časopis za etnologiju i folkloristiku, 2018
This article explores the critical question of how music videos portrayed the " new bourgeoisie "... more This article explores the critical question of how music videos portrayed the " new bourgeoisie " in early post-socialist music videos. Additionally, it tackles two side issues: the depiction of criminal groups and foreign countries. Unlike the " new class " , post-socialist new bourgeoisie emerged as a class that was entirely economically defi ned by its own material interests. Several values attributable to post-socialist " new bourgeoisie " can be discerned from the music videos: an interplay of ambitions and hedonism, cosmopolitanism as well as of patriotic narratives, and the aspiration of the new bourgeoisie to assert its culturedness vis-à-vis the " intelligentsia " .
In this paper, I focus on Czech xenophobia in the period 1985-2015 and aim to interpret it from a... more In this paper, I focus on Czech xenophobia in the period 1985-2015 and aim to interpret it from a comparative perspective. The key concept which I explore is class in post-socialist conditions (Michael Burawoy, Gil Eyal, Iván Szelényi). This work also builds on the debate on elitism and populism in post-socialist Europe (Michał Buchowski, Séan Hanley). As such, I propose to study two interlinked phenomena: “popular” and “liberal” varieties of xenophobia. The first type can be seen across the classes but is predominantly working class-based, merging culturally
and biologically-based racism with anti-elitist sensitivities. It stems from an agenda imported from abroad as well as the adoption and diffusion of Far Right reasoning and the continuation of late state socialist popular beliefs. The second type, manifested by anti-populist, predominantly urban, educated and more affluent strata, frames its prejudice within human rights perspectives. Its sources can be found in the political instrumentalization of the collective historical trauma of 1968 as well as the inertia now surrounding the post-socialist ideological consensus. Both xenophobias, however, distance themselves explicitly from the Far Right.
In FIŠEROVÁ, M., MACHEK, J. et al. New Mediation, New Pop-Culture? Prague: Metropolitan University Prague Press 2015, s. 70-91.
The chapter is exploring a broadening gap dividing Czech society and crystallising into categorie... more The chapter is exploring a broadening gap dividing Czech society and crystallising into categories of urbanites versus province dwellers and elites versus ordinary people. There is an obvious rise of the reciprocal delimitation, the construction of Us and Them with the emphasis on dividing attributes magnified during last years and gradual disintegration of the post-socialist hegemonic consensus (orientation towards Western values and attitudes) led by urban elites. The refused backwardness is related to the province dwellers characterised by elites as bearers of plebeian manners, regressive culture and inability to succeed under the new circumstances. As a result, a rising backlash was intensified by the economic crisis. Support of the existing course of development shrank and resistance to imposed culture and values rose. Popular discontent was transformed into an effort to establish and defend own values and culture, disdained by elites as well as majority of mainstream mass media. We analyse both, popular and elitist discourse in the internet discussions as a distinctive and easy accessible resource to the strengthening of the urban/rural divide. New consensual meaning is created in the discussions not moderated by mass media. Hence the internet discussions can be considered as a record of the continuous creation, reshaping and reinforcement of popular discourse.
Subcultures in Postsocialism by Ondřej Daniel
In Laura WAY and Matt GRIMES (eds.). Punk, Ageing and Time: Punk Passages. Cham: Palgrave Macmill... more In Laura WAY and Matt GRIMES (eds.). Punk, Ageing and Time: Punk Passages. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan 2024, pp. 33-52.
In Brendan DOOLEY and Alexander Samuel WILKINSON (eds.) Exciting News! Event, Narration and Impac... more In Brendan DOOLEY and Alexander Samuel WILKINSON (eds.) Exciting News! Event, Narration and Impact from Past to Present. Amsterdam: Brill 2024, pp. 297-309.
In Elke WEESJES and Matt WORLEY (eds.). Music, Subcultures and Migration: Roots and Routes. Londo... more In Elke WEESJES and Matt WORLEY (eds.). Music, Subcultures and Migration: Roots and Routes. London: Routledge 2024, pp. 143-154.
IASPM Journal , 2023
In this article, I trace the trajectory of protest dancing in post-socialist urban spaces, beginn... more In this article, I trace the trajectory of protest dancing in post-socialist urban spaces, beginning with the diverse strategies of the anti-globalization movement in the late 1990s and extending to the practice's appropriation by far-right groups, who sought to update their image, in the early 2010s. More generally, I attempt to illuminate the genealogy of dance as a form of protest in this post-socialist context. I first provide historical context for the subcultural transfer of electronic dance music (EDM) and formation of protest street parties in the Czech post-socialist urban spaces, before highlighting some of the controversies surrounding this development. Finally, I focus on the far-right's appropriation of protest dance in the early 2010s through the hardbass genre.
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Class in Postsocialism by Ondřej Daniel
and biologically-based racism with anti-elitist sensitivities. It stems from an agenda imported from abroad as well as the adoption and diffusion of Far Right reasoning and the continuation of late state socialist popular beliefs. The second type, manifested by anti-populist, predominantly urban, educated and more affluent strata, frames its prejudice within human rights perspectives. Its sources can be found in the political instrumentalization of the collective historical trauma of 1968 as well as the inertia now surrounding the post-socialist ideological consensus. Both xenophobias, however, distance themselves explicitly from the Far Right.
Subcultures in Postsocialism by Ondřej Daniel
and biologically-based racism with anti-elitist sensitivities. It stems from an agenda imported from abroad as well as the adoption and diffusion of Far Right reasoning and the continuation of late state socialist popular beliefs. The second type, manifested by anti-populist, predominantly urban, educated and more affluent strata, frames its prejudice within human rights perspectives. Its sources can be found in the political instrumentalization of the collective historical trauma of 1968 as well as the inertia now surrounding the post-socialist ideological consensus. Both xenophobias, however, distance themselves explicitly from the Far Right.
on how they operate in the anti-globalisation activist press. The primary material for this study consists of two journals: Zdola (“From the Bottom”) published by the Slovak section of the Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation, and Žerme bohatých (“Let’s eat the rich”) published by the organisation Priama akcia (“Direct action”), the Slovak section of the International Workers’ Association. Geographical references
in the Slovak anarchist press around the turn of the millennium provided potentially isolated activist communities with information about relevant struggles around the world. These references empowered these communities by calling on them to be a part of the global struggle. Three narrative strategies are identified: context, equation and inspiration. The differences between the two journals stem from their different ideological profiles. The qualitative research presented in this article allows for a semantic categorisation of these references.
The chapter on DIY politics examines two activist practices – one with no direct subcultural background (the late state socialist fascism) and one narrowly linked to hardcore-punk subculture (antiglobalization movement of the late 1990s). Given its radicalism the first one was completely marginalized during the late state socialism. The second managed to gain some sympathies with the help of DIY fanzines distributed by hardcore-punk community. The leaning of the subculture towards the activism was however not absolute and activism received some important critics from inside the scene.
Finally, DIY economics is studied through the case studies focusing on DIY practices of cassettes publication of late 1980s, swap meetings (burza) of the same period and finally through commodification of punk production and resistance against it during the 1990s. First two case studies give proof of the unsustainability of the totalitarian paradigm showing the autonomous DIY practices under authoritarian police regime. The third one shows correction mechanisms of the hardcore-punk scene against the commodification in the form of DIY publishing and recording activities.
This research draws on the subcultural studies of the Chicago School and
the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (University of Birmingham,
UK) as well as other studies of moral panics and subcultural capital. The
work of Czech social historianMichal Pullmann on regimes of violence in the
public sphere of late state socialist and early post-socialist Czechoslovakia
also provides an important theoretical framework.While talk of preserving
calm at work and the “socialist legality” of the Husák regime concealed
public violence as a kind of “civilised” or “displaced” violence and a rhetoric
of non-violence prevailed in the 1989 Velvet Revolution, discussions of the
violence implicit in glasnost topics accelerated in and after 1990. These took
the form of media references to street fights, racism, prison riots and the
debate on domestic violence as well as activist and subcultural violence.
The first case study in this volume concerns the black metal scene,
which calls up occultism, Satanism, anti-social stands andmisanthropy.
The subcultural violence of this scene was, however, mainly non-physical
and limited to anti-religious statements and hardly unique elements
such as ageism, elitism, individualism,male aggression and sexism. Like
the other scenes discussed, black metal underwent a two-fold politicisation:
first by the local mainstream (with its anti-communism, individualismand
sexism) and second as a result of global subcultural transfers,
particularly through the involvement of new social movements.
While black metal is presented as a marginal subcultural phenomenon
whose links to the new Biedermeier are limited to aesthetic opposition,
the next case study of the practices of “hardcore” football fans such
as Ultras and hooligans clarifies the roles of police and the media.
An example from the Brno-based media is spotlighted in order to
expose the media’s role in directly manufacturing football troubles.
Both the scenes discussed had their links to racist social movements.
This is also true of the Czech skinhead subculture that is the subject of
the third case study. This subculture emerged in the late 1980s under
the direct influence of already politicised West German and British
Far-Right skinheads. This case study analyses the canonical texts
of racist Czech skinheads and considers the different political aims
of their efforts to instigate unstructured and unbridled street racism.
On this theme of subcultural racism, this volume turns next to antifascist
subcultures, with a focus on threeMay Day events (in 1992, 1999
and 2002) when violent clashes erupted. In each of these instances,
police and the media again played key roles in “translating” subcultural
and activist violence into the language of the new Biedermeier.
This was also the case for other not primarily subcultural activist
events involving violent clashes on themargins of the new Biedermeier,
such as police raids on the Prague punk club Propast (1996) and the
Global Street Party (1998). Together with the protests against the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank conference in Prague
(2000), these incidents can be understood as peaks in the Czech antiglobalisation
movement.
Other subcultural practices also encouraged self-determination but
were not necessarily openly political, or were only politicised externally.
The final case study analyses subcultural and everyday life practices
involving alternative musical venues, drugs, backpacking and hitchhiking,
raves and dance parties in the country.
In exploring responses to all these forms of subcultural and activist
violence, I point out three distinct modes of explanation in the media:
a “perestroika”mode interested in a sociological understanding of reality;
a “conservative” stance, which explains this violence as solely a security
threat; and a “liberal” mode based on laissez faire ethics.While the
first and second were evident both before and after the changes of
1989/1990, the last is profoundly post-socialist and during the period
reviewed, it mutated into more rigid and orthodox forms of ultra and
“Ordo” liberalism.
zachytily tehdejší zpravodajské svodky agentů Státní bezpečnosti.
Besides the theory of imagination originating in the thought of Émile Durkheim, Cornelius Castoriadis, Benedict Anderson and Arjun Appadurai, I focus on the theory of popular culture quoting as its founders thinkers related to the Birmingham school of Centre of contemporary cultural studies as well as John Fiske and parallel culture-driven research of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel de Certeau. The theoretical framework of this book generally relates to Marxism and works of Antonio Gramsci, David Harvey, Immanuel Wallerstein, Slavoj Žižek and others. Methodology of this book is closely inspired by the anthropological tradition of participant observation. The primary sources are heterogeneous and partly issued from the narration of the informants during several in-depth interviews as well as from narration edited either by the different institutions of the host-country or the by editors based in the home-country.