The Making and Unmaking of the Ukrainian Working Class: Everyday Politics and Moral Economy in a Post-Soviet City (Dislocations Book 36)

Industrial workers in Ukraine have a complex political lifeworld because their political action aimed at bringing radical social change coexists with a demobilizing stance that condemns all political participation as corrupt. This contradictory attitude to politics defines the character of populist mass mobilizations that shook Ukraine in 2004 and 2014, as well as the electoral overhaul of 2019 and the popular response to the Russian invasion in 2022. Based on three years of fieldwork in the city of Kryvyi Rih, the book focuses on the moral economy that constitutes the working class and structures its relations with other social groups. The Making and Unmaking of the Ukrainian Working Class Contents Illustrations Introduction Part I. Theoretical and Empirical Context Chapter 1. Populism, Moral Economy, Informality Chapter 2. Ukrainian Political Economy Part II. The City Chapter 3. From a Military Outpost to an Oligarchic Stronghold Chapter 4. Archaeology of Power Regimes of Domination Reflected in the Urban Infrastructure Part III. The Factory Chapter 5. Informality and Hierarchies at the Post-Soviet Workplace Chapter 6. Paternalism in Decay Chapter 7. Politicized Embeddedness, Depoliticized Disembeddedness Part IV. Everyday Politics Chapter 8. Distinction and Class Chapter 9. Mapping Lay Virtues on the National Political Landscape Chapter 10. Political Attitudes and Attitude to Politics Conclusion Epilogue References Index