what was socialism, and what comes next? Katherine Verdery

p15 transition vs transformation "a time of transformation the countries that have emerged from socialism" p12 "I see my overall theme as exploring how the operation of socialism influences what comes next" p64 socialist paternalism constructed its "nation" on on implicit view of society as a family, headed by a "wise" party that, in a paternal guise, made all the family's allocative decisions s to who should produce what and who should receive what reward-- thus a "parent state". p65 One might say that it broke open the nuclear family, socialized significant elements of reproduction even while leaving women responsible for the rest, and usurped certain patriarchal functions and responsibilities, thereby altering the relation between gendered "domestic" and "public" spheres familiar from nineteenth-century capitalism.