Projects / Programmes
Socialism and democracy in Slovenia in words and pictures
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H250 |
Humanities |
Contemporary history (since 1914) |
socialism, democracy, use of language, media, mass culture
Researchers (7)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The project Socialism and Democracy in words and images is conceived as a multi layered historic-anthropological, comparative-contrastive study on the processes of modernization. Its central aim is to compare the public discourses of socialism and democracy in Slovenia after the Second World War (with comparative digressions into older periods – as far as 1848, when modern political structures were established). On those grounds, the modernization of life in Slovenia after 1945 will be analysed in its entirety, especially the modernisation of the so called public and political life and its impact on the formation of the private sphere. The questions of continuity and discontinuity of text forms (in newspapers, fiction, poetry, spoken text of audio-visual media, jokes) and motifs of visual material (official photographs, representative sculptures, manifestations, posters, cartoons (caricatures)) in two epochs with two value systems will be in the foreground of the analysis. The political rupture of 1989-91 that put Slovenians into a new referential framework, did not create a total break with the past – the independent Slovenian state had in specific cases clung to the heritage of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia and Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia respectively (i.e. the right to succession in the case of international treaties). On the other hand, “the end of millennium” meant an attempt to enter the new era for many sectors of public life. Even though, the structures of “longue durée”, that at times also manifest themselves in everyday life, point to the fact, that the rupture of 1989-91 carries a specific (typological) heritage of earlier ruptures in Slovenian public life. Here an important question on the homogeneity of time after 1945 arises; the answer to it can be found only in the study of the framework of modernization processes.
The proposed research project deals – in accordance with contemporary paradigms of historiography – with the level of institutions as well as with the level of private life. Much attention is given to the disparity between the political “production of reality” and reality itself that is especially characteristic for the socialist period (but not exclusively). It focuses on the structures of the elite as well as popular culture that meet in everyday life (celebrations, holidays, working day). The premise is that the modernization processes had marked the Slovenian reality in different periods and social realms after 1945. The unity of time after WW II is defined by dynamics – in spite of the struggle to find terminal solutions (both in socialism and democracy).
Significance for science
The research is one of the first research attempts to focus on many aspects of mass media and public discourse in the period after the WWII and is not limited to the use of media material solely as historical source and is not only limited to the analysis of political news. The research follows the goal of establishing an accurate image of discursive context over a period of more than forty year period and the changes that appeared in this time. The significance of the results of the research project for the development of science is important specially in the linking of different scientific fields and its discourses. The research group is focusing on the analysis of an aspect of Slovenian past that was not examined before and is performing the study according to the contemporary trends. The research project undertakes an analysis of the modernization processes after the WWII, that was not yet completed in Slovenia, and that can serve as a basis of reasonable periodization of Slovenian history.
Significance for the country
The research potential of the project based on the historical research of the past period can be mainly found in the field already described under paragraph 8.1. that covers the significance of the research project for the development of the science. It needs to be emphasized that any development of science in Slovenia or for Slovenia is at the same time also development of Slovenia, however this does not mean that the general significance of the research does not overcome the significance already described under paragraph 8.1. The research namely contributes to the development of several important fields in the Slovenian society. In the field of education new insights into media developments and everyday life in post WW II Slovenia are an important source for the learning about this period in both primary and secondary school levels. The results of media research, being the core object of focus, are important to the media themselves, as they offer an important overview on the development of Slovenian media landscape. A detailed inquiry into the history of Slovenian media is crucial both in the debate on the role of the media in the present and also in the managerial and editorial practices of the media themselves. The formation of social policies is another area, where present research could bring some gains, especially its more accurate and analytically clarified grasp of the mentality structures of the period and the understanding of these structures in Slovenian population is a key to the formation of functioning and what is more important socially acceptable welfare and economic policies.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2008,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
