Modernizare prin loisir în România postcomunistă. Raționalizarea reprezentărilor sociale ale distracției Modernization through loisir in post-communist Romania. Rationalizing the social representations of pastime Section Studies and Research Papers

Abstract

In this paper we argue that leisure can play a function of cultural modernization in the post-socialist Eastern Europe through the processes of rationalization induced to the interpretative and actional schemes of the social actors. We will illustrate this thesis with an analysis of the rationalization processes of the social representation of the „distracție”, a Romanian word which designates having fun, among the students in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Keywords: leisure, rationalization, modernization in post-socialism, social representations.