Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland : The Practice of Labor and Consumption

In Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland: The Practice of Labor and Consumption, Nila Ginger Hofman examines the effects of post-socialist capitalism on the lives of Croatian women. Croatia{u2019}s secession from socialism and a more recent gestating capitalist landscape provide the contexts in which the author examines how women navigate the labor and consumer markets. The women consulted for this book experienced two decades of developing free-market capitalism. They also experienced the disintegration of the self-managing socialism that existed in Yugoslavia from 1948 to 1991; four years of the Balkan War, which brought emotional and infrastructural tolls; and the emergence of the new Croatian Republic in 1991. The transition to capitalism in the last part of the twentieth century brought anticipation, angst, and excitement. The new millennium has also been plagued by unemployment rates hovering around 20 percent as well as the emergence of western-style shopping malls. Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland details the cumulative effects of these changes, which resulted in an unprecedented upheaval in the lives of Croatians.--Provided by publisher In Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland: The Practice of Labor and Consumption, Nila Ginger Hofman examines the effects of postsocialist capitalism on the lives of Croatian women. Croatia's secession from socialism and a more recent gestating capitalist landscape provide the contexts in which Hofman examines how women navigate the labor and consumer markets. The women consulted for this book experienced two decades of developing free-market capitalism. They also experienced the disintegration of the self-managing socialism that existed in Yugoslavia from 1948 to 1991-four years of war-which brought emotional and infrastructural tolls, and the emergence of the new Croatian Republic in 1991. The transition to capitalism in the last part of the twentieth century brought anticipation, angst, and excitement. The new millennium has also been plagued by unemployment rates hovering around 20 percent as well as the emergence of western-style shopping malls. Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland details the cumulative effects of these changes, w which resulted in an unprecedented upheaval in the lives of Croatians. Book jacket In Women and Capitalism in the Croatian Hinterland: The Practice of Labor and Consumption, Nila Ginger Hofman documents the experiences of generations of Croatian women, examining what trade liberalization means to a society of workers who have been eager for-and yet ambivalent about-free-market capitalism. Hofman applies labor and consumer analysis to reveal the ideological and idiosyncratic forces that mediate women's participation in the social spheres of labor