Critical Thinking in Slovakia After Socialism

Critical Thinking in Slovakia after Socialism interrogates the putative relationship between critical thought and society through an ethnographic study of civic discourse in post-1989 Slovakia. Drawing on original fieldwork as well as on anthropological theories of language and culture, Jonathan Larson uncovers traces of patterned elements of criticism throughout the Slovak political discourse. In addition, he exposes ways that these discursive practices have been misinterpreted and overlooked, and outlines unexpected historical and interactive limitations on criticism. This important volume, bringing together scholarship on East Central Europe, liberalism, education, and the public sphere, gives students of modern history, political science, and economics fresh perspective on an essential civic skill.

Jonathan L. Larson is visiting assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Iowa.