Socialist Trade in Bulgaria (1954–1963): Ideology, Discipline and Marketing Cover Image
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Социалистическата търговия в България (1954–1963): идеология, дисциплина и маркетинг
Socialist Trade in Bulgaria (1954–1963): Ideology, Discipline and Marketing

Author(s): Elitsa Stanoeva
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Sociology, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Social development, Social differentiation, Economic development, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Институт по философия и социология при БАН
Keywords: socialist trade; planned economy; consumption; propaganda; “new man”; department stores

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses socialist consumerism that emerged in Bulgaria in the late 1950s from the perspective of the contradictory institutional agendas that stimulated its development. On the level of party and state decrees, the advancement of mass consumption attempted to prove the regime’s responsiveness to workers’ needs and the moral as well as economical supremacy of socialism. The socialist consumer was envisaged in proletarian terms since recipients of the improved trade and promised prosperity were invariably the “people of labor”. On the level of popular propaganda, the consumer was imagined as an exemplary socialist citizen. Steering consumer choices through soft techniques of social discipline, popular magazines emphasized the educational impact of shopping in cultivating the cultural values constitutive of the “New Man” of socialism. Whereas these two images were mutually reinforcing, in the operational logic of high-ranking commercial enterprises – exemplified by the Central Department Store of Sofia – they were eclipsed by the figure of the customer stripped of any ideological qualifications. Concerned with their economic performance, these state-run enterprises employed marketing strategies with a discernible client-oriented approach.

  • Issue Year: 47/2015
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 228-249
  • Page Count: 22
  • Language: Bulgarian