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Vital Disruption. Scandal and the Transformation of Legitimate Culture in Poland after 1989
Joanna Barbara Bednarek
Abstract
This dissertation is an analysis of the transformations of two legitimate cultures in Poland after 1989: the liberal-democratic one and the right-wing-nationalist one (with particular emphasis on the latter). Their transformations are the result of reactions to scandal – which I define as a disruption to legitimate culture (Pierre Bourdieu’s notion) and legitimate identity (Manuel Castells’ notion). I measure the potency of the scandal by the defensive tactics – neutralizations and retaliations – that legitimate culture employs to maintain the status quo. The defensive actions of legitimate culture described include (1) deprecation, i.e., lowering the rank and value of a work or idea; (2) establishing a canonical interpretation (controlling meanings); (3) narrative subversion (intercepting terms from the opponent’s vocabulary and changing their meanings); (4) creating paradoxical identifications; (5) building an official counter-narrative; (6) controlling cultural institutions (replacing or appointing executives); (7) repressive or economic censorship; (8) exerting pressure and threats of violence; (9) establishing a new criminal statute or changing the law. With the help of these tools, dominant cultures seek to achieve a “monopoly on legitimacy.” In this paper, I analyze the scandals that have disrupted the three most important spheres of legitimacy: religion, history, and nature. Their neutralizations have served the legitimate culture to reinforce its dominance.- Record ID
- UAM71043628d608490e8fc06fc5398d2b01
- Diploma type
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Author
- Title in Polish
- Żywotne zakłócenie. Skandal i przemiany kultury prawomocnej w Polsce 1989-2019
- Title in English
- Vital Disruption. Scandal and the Transformation of Legitimate Culture in Poland after 1989
- Language
- pol (pl) Polish
- Certifying Unit
- Wydział Filologii Polskiej i Klasycznej [nowa struktura organizacyjna] (SNoJiL/WFPiK)
- Scientific discipline (2.0)
- Year of creation
- 2021
- Defense Date
- 30-06-2021
- Title date
- 30-06-2021
- Supervisor
- Pages
- 275
- URL
- https://hdl.handle.net/10593/26406 Opening in a new tab
- Keywords in English
- scandal; legitimate culture; legitimate identity; freedom of art; defensive tactics
- Abstract in English
- This dissertation is an analysis of the transformations of two legitimate cultures in Poland after 1989: the liberal-democratic one and the right-wing-nationalist one (with particular emphasis on the latter). Their transformations are the result of reactions to scandal – which I define as a disruption to legitimate culture (Pierre Bourdieu’s notion) and legitimate identity (Manuel Castells’ notion). I measure the potency of the scandal by the defensive tactics – neutralizations and retaliations – that legitimate culture employs to maintain the status quo. The defensive actions of legitimate culture described include (1) deprecation, i.e., lowering the rank and value of a work or idea; (2) establishing a canonical interpretation (controlling meanings); (3) narrative subversion (intercepting terms from the opponent’s vocabulary and changing their meanings); (4) creating paradoxical identifications; (5) building an official counter-narrative; (6) controlling cultural institutions (replacing or appointing executives); (7) repressive or economic censorship; (8) exerting pressure and threats of violence; (9) establishing a new criminal statute or changing the law. With the help of these tools, dominant cultures seek to achieve a “monopoly on legitimacy.” In this paper, I analyze the scandals that have disrupted the three most important spheres of legitimacy: religion, history, and nature. Their neutralizations have served the legitimate culture to reinforce its dominance.
- Uniform Resource Identifier
- https://researchportal.amu.edu.pl/info/phd/UAM71043628d608490e8fc06fc5398d2b01/
- URN
urn:amu-prod:UAM71043628d608490e8fc06fc5398d2b01