We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Plastic Materials in Postwar Czechoslovakia: A Testimony to Man’s Inventiveness and Consumerism
Summary
This study examines the role of plastic materials in postwar Czechoslovakia as both a technological achievement and an ideological symbol, exploring how the Communist regime leveraged the versatility and popularity of plastics to promote its industrial modernization narrative. The analysis reveals how plastics simultaneously reflected global consumer society trends and served specific political functions in a socialist context.
Plastic materials and products were a truly remarkable phenomenon in the postwar period, influencing not only material reality but, through their symbolic validity, also the value settings of society. The production of plastic materials was a cornerstone of the postwar chemicalisation of industry, and their widespread adoption due to their multiple advantageous properties, led not least to the rapid development of scientific research on polymers. The Czechoslovak Communist regime also sought to exploit the advantages and popularity of plastics ideologically, and positioned them as a symbol supporting the legitimacy of the political course of the time.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
Petrochemical Bestiary
This paper is not a natural science study of microplastic pollution. It is a cultural studies article examining how plastic animal toys in socialist Yugoslavia served as vehicles for normalizing petrochemical consumption and fossil fuel dependence. While it touches on the broader relationship between plastic production and the environment, it is a humanities analysis rather than empirical pollution research.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic and practical benefits alongside growing environmental and health concerns — calling for a balanced approach to plastic use and waste management.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
The Geography of partnerships between the regions of the USSR and Czechoslovakia (1950–1980s)
This historical geography paper traces the regional partnership ties between the USSR and Czechoslovakia from the 1950s to the 1980s. The paper is not related to microplastics or environmental health.
Plastics in the Pandemic
Researchers examined how the COVID-19 pandemic shifted middle-class attitudes in India toward plastic use, finding that immediate infection risks displaced longer-term concerns about plastic toxicity and drove increased acceptance of single-use plastics. The study reveals how plastics became implicated in logics of ritual purity and secular hygiene during the pandemic, functioning as a perceived barrier against contamination.