Kutilství mezi státním socialismem a globálním kapitalismem.
Do-it-yourself between state socialism and global capitalism.

New perspectives on the study of self-help and prosumption

Summary/Abstract: The article introduces a monothematic issue of Studia Ethnologica Pragensia by positing “kutilství” (a local variant of DIY) as a historically situated phenomenon and shows that despite a generally shared image of a late socialist, typically masculine handyman practice, “kutilství” has much deeper historical and cultural roots. The emergence of self-led manual activities as a response to the modernisation of society points to societal tensions that underpin “kutilství” (and DIY more broadly) since the beginning of the 20th century. The disciplination of independent production and consumption, which can be subsumed under the term “prosumption”, has played an important role in relation to the formation of both State and Market, especially the segment targeting DIYers. The authors elucidate how pondering “kutilství” and DIY in general can become a starting point for scholars to understand and challenge modernist dichotomies that are transcended in the practice of “kutilství” / DIY — dichotomies of work and leisure, market and non-market production as well as production and consumption, professionalization and amateurism, but also masculinity and femininity. The authors argue that situatedness of and hybridization enabled by “kutilství” should represent key axes of research of both “kutilství” and DIY and the theorization(s) derived from it.

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