READING LIST: Soviet Luxury and Consumption
thestalinera.substack.com
In the popular imagination, the Soviet era is often characterized as a period of deprivation and scarcity, in contrast to the mass consumer abundance offered by the United States and the West.
  • Comprehensive49@lemmygrad.ml
    10·
    3 months ago

    This is the thing that drives me mad about how Westerners look at AES states. They compare their first-world amenities offered to the richest against the average amenities offered to everyone in an AES state, then condemn the AES state for not allowing everyone to live like a millionaire or billionaire in America.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
      10·
      3 months ago

      Even more fundamentally, the whole metric of what defines good life and happiness is arbitrary based on the values of a particular culture, but it’s being applied as some universal value.