engleski

Dignity in ‘failure’: success and failure across social classes

The paper explores the discourses and practices of ‘failure’ and ‘success’ in the context of charitable giving and receiving in Croatia today. Analytically, the paper is especially concerned with the relationship between the socialist past in Croatia—a time when the state ostensibly provided for all basic needs—and the capitalist present, which has witnessed a proliferation of neoliberal discourse and practice. The ethnography encompasses contrasting sites: largely affluent local affiliates of global humanitarian organizations and a soup kitchen that caters to the poor. Three guiding topics structure the analysis. First, the perceived role of the state in providing care for the poor is examined, both during the socialist era and today, with a particular focus on how this shapes people’s perceptions of how they are able to cope with ‘failure’. Secondly, the role of charitable giving and receiving is explored in the formation of class identities and differences in contemporary Croatia: the ‘successful’ members of the upper-middle and middle class give to the arguably ‘failed’ lower class. Finally, the paper elucidates how both givers and recipients of charitable aid comprehend the gifts they offer and receive, and the social relations that these gifts entail.

Charity ; social class ; success and failure ; socialism ; neoliberalism ; Croatia

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