From 'Parallel Polis' to 'The Time of the Tribes': Post-Socialism, Social Self-Organization and Post-Modernity

Abstract

In both the capitalist and the 'real socialist' parts of Europe, 'alternative' social communities - 'the parallel polis' or 'contemporary tribes' - based on emotional or moral ties were in the early 1980s put forward as bases of a future society. There was an affinity between these communities and the private networks, which in the real socialist and post-socialist practice functioned as mediators of concrete benefits. They have now become an important asset in the hands of the nomenklatura in the post-socialist privatization process. The particularist loyalty required by membership of a 'tribe' is different from the universalist loyalty that forms the basis of modern civil society. The present 'post-modern' tendencies of 'tribalization' in the West can be seen as hostile to the 'modern' principles of universality and equality, and may come, with the incorporation of Central and Eastern European countries into global capitalism, to form an obstacle to the creation of civil society. Practical implications for non-governmental organizations, policy-makers and future research flow from this.