Something to be Proud of: The Emotion of Pride in Memories of Post-Socialist (De)Industrialization in Lithuania

• In Event: Beyond Nostalgia and Ruin: Mnemonic Emotion Narratives and the Postindustrial Memoryscape of Post-Socialist Europe

Abstract

Arlie Hochshild's (2024) recent study on the social and political consequences of deindustrialisation in rural America shows that people who used to take pride in hard work and personal responsibility have become vulnerable to shame and feel their pride has been taken away. This paper asks whether similar dynamics apply in other areas which experienced contraction of industry, such as Poland and Lithuania. Or is it that, on the contrary, the promise of market capitalism and the restoration of national independence provide alternative sources of pride to the previous industrial pride and act as a mechanism to compensate for the vulnerability to shame? The paper uses the mnemonic emotion narrative as a tool to uncover the moral emotions encoded in the narratives of biographical interviews, specifically pride. By analysing and comparing what industrial workers were proud of in the Soviet and post-socialist periods, the paper discusses the different sources of pride, the individual and collective nature of pride, and the extent to which the dispossession of pride is reflected in industrial workers' narratives.

Author

• Aušra Teleišė, Vilnius U (Lithuania)