Culture for sale
voluntary education under pseudomarket conditions
in contemporary Hungary
Striker Sándor
1989
The 1985 parliamentary elections represent a decisive division line in the postwar history of voluntary activities in Hungary. The new system of political elections transformed the opportunities for both the individual and the associative voluntary activities. On the other hand there should be noted, that some of these voluntary activities themselves all through the preceding decades aimed at achieving more individual and associative culturopolitical freedom. Their efforts nevertheless would never have achieved the introduction of the system of newtype elections with nomination meetings and the opportunity for electing local candidates if their efforts would have not coincided with the emerging collapse of the economy of the country and consequently, without the growing uncertainty of those in power. Yet as much as the coming economic collapse was unforeseen by the vast majority of the people in those days, so was the growth of voluntary activities rather unexpected to the establishment. The culmination of this social process was the formation of a social arena of more articulate notions. The present paper offers an approach for the analysis of the role and likely future of the voluntary educational activities within this social arena.
The social arena
Although the social arena itself has been analyzed in countless ways throughout the centuries by social scientists, it seems, however, to be expedient to introduce a basic model of it here, in order to obtain an operational tool for further discussion.
In accordance with the formation of societies in the course of time, the model used here also bears historical characteristics. If staying within the concepts of materialism and evolutionism, i.e. supposing that energy, matter, time and space are sufficient constituents for the formation of organic matter and then that of life and finally of social life, a linear process of
INORGANIC → ORGANIC → LIVING → SOCIAL
stages can be drawn from the prehistoric ages to the appearance of man. These four stages, nevertheless, have never surpassed each other, but they rather act as catalysts and resources within this fourcornered complex. In fact, the appearance of any of the new stages has brought about new concepts by their immediate relationship to the preceding stage, i.e. the formation of organic matter has brought about the concept of HIERARCHY (as for consisting of the hierarchy of inorganic and organic matter), the formation of the life introduced the concept of PRODUCTS (as excrement, webs, nests, etc.) while the concept of HISTORY (sense of time and the capacity of intergeneration memory) is inseparable from the appearance of Homo Sapiens. Once these stages occurred and these concepts were formed one can not dismiss any of the preceding ones, since all the latter ones incorporate the earlier stages during the course of their existence. Since these four steps proved to be sufficient in the process of forming man and society, the basic model for investigating social life itself can be rather plausibly drawn along its four peaks, i.e. in the shape of a TETRAEDER. The two tetraeders below illustrate the interrelated constituents of universe in general (Fig.1) and that of our world after the appearance of mankind (Fig.2).
hierarchy (form) hierarchy (power)
energy time natural history
resources
matter products
space communication
(market)
Figure 1 Figure 2
The model shown in Fig.1 may seem nothing to do whatsoever with the matter of culture to be discussed in this paper. However, it suggests an utmost level of interdependence where all constituents assume (postulate) each other. The SOCIAL ARENA, as modeled in Fig.2 consists of similarly interrelated components, which are constituted of and manipulated by different individuals and groups who are themselves helplessly exposed to the direct effects of all these elements. The presocial arena can be illustrated with a twodimensional shape of a triangle (Fig.3), since it consists of the natural resources, the hierarchy and of the products of those plants and animals which occupy the surface of that imaginary field. They originate in the natural resources, form a hierarchy with nature and with themselves, create products (from oxygen and CO2 to sophisticated constructions) throughout their life span and finally return and become a resource for the coming ones.
hierarchy
natural
resources
products
Figure 3
The social arena bears the above characteristics as well, but can be called SOCIAL only if the mentioned intergeneration memory called HISTORY, i.e. human intellect, with the ability of both interpersonal and intergeneration communication occurs. This phenomenon comes together with the exchange of products as well, i.e. the market, which can be conceived as the communication of products.
The tetraeder of Figure 2 seems to be the basic model of the social arena ever since from the formation of mankind, therefore it can be rather expediently applied when individual and group activities are to be analyzed within that very sphere. In the present study it will serve as a tool for describing voluntary educational activities in today's Hungary.
The social arena of Hungary until the 1980's
By the mid 1980's a well developed centrally controlled social arena has become an everyday reality for the people living in Hungary. As compared to the noncentrally organized more or less market regulated econopolitical structures existing in some other countries (Fig.4) it can be characterized by isolated communities embedded into the general network of state institutions (Fig.5). It maintains and controls almost all possible ways of the communication and exchange between the communities themselves and also the communication and exchange between them and the outside world. Only informal, personal contacts could be maintained without institutional interference, if at all. However, they proved to be more effective at times than the institutional channels (see: STRIKER: 1987).
outside
world
community community
community community community community
institutions institutions
Figure 4 Figure 5
The above figures intend to indicate that the social arena is institutionalized in different ways, which then, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, modify the operation of the social arena itself. The figures below represent the basic models for market controlled (Fig. 6) and centrally controlled (Fig.7) or embedded societies.
Hs
H H
C C Cs
R Rs R
Pr Pr
communication Prs
(market)
Figure 6 Figure 7
where H = hierarchy
R = resources
Pr= production
C = culture (historical phenomena)
In case of a society modeled in Figure 6, the inside tetraeder indicated with dashes shows the opportunities for communication and exchange (media and market), enabling the participants, both individuals and communities to reach each other within the tetraeder (the system) and also to maintain contact directly with the outside world.
As for the tetraedic model of the centrally controlled society, the notion for omnipotent control resulted the embedding of the social activities into an overall system of extended state institutions, with practically no mutual direct communication and exchange among the four basic constituents. Their contacts are meant to be limited to bilateral ones, while the outside world is accessible only via state channels (exportimport companies, travelagents, cultural exchangeboards, centralized banking, etc.) This setup gives grounds to the formation of an isolated domestic market and that of a similar mediastructure as well. The centrally controlled model in Hungary, our main concern here, can be described as follows.
As far as resources (R) are concerned, all natural resources (and even manmade objects hidden below the earth's surface) within the geographical boarders of Hungary, belong to the state, according to the presently existing law, regardless of the ownership of that given piece of land. Minerals are not to be mined in private and objects found in the soil are to be handed over to the authorities or to state museums. The population, being a resource in itself, till recently has been forced to stay within the country or to leave it only with permission (e.g. a limited exit visa). One has to obey the centrally determined conditions of family life and birth control (marriage after a waiting period, pills available only through prescriptions, abortion only through facing a committee).
Production processes (Pr), i.e. industry, agriculture and the economy in general are also under state control and, as mentioned above, partially still embedded into a network of state exportimport companies.
The elected hierarchy (H), from the level of local community representatives to MPs, is also embedded into the mass of a nonelected state bureaucracy, which then runs both the domestic and, by itself, the international affairs as well.
Cultural activities (C), including all school and higher educational curricula, are also controlled and screened by ministries and other authorities both on the domestic and on the international level (e.g. exhibitions and performances are to be licensed, academic visits controlled by the State Council of Scholarship, etc.).
Processes within the social arena
Reading the tetraeder model shown in Figure 7, cultural activities can be described the following way. In case of domestic cultural activities, resources both natural and human (R) were nationalized and state employed, respectively, housing and necessary equipment (Pr) were taken over or provided by the controlling authorities (H) and then allocated to any given cultural venture (C), together with a state appointed director (Hs). Therefore here C = R + Pr + H is modified, where all components should be marked with the modification of Rs + Prs + Hs = Cs where s indicates state involvement and thus the outcome cannot be else but state culture (Cs).
Moreover, it clearly indicates that all cultural ventures within a centrally controlled social arena are fully dependent on state provisions.
Voluntary educational activities within the social arena
In view of the above model it is no wonder, that ever since the centrally controlled social arena had been set up in Hungary, individuals and communities were permanently seeking to create direct channels through movements and associations in order to establish certain autonomous activities of their own. But they had no access to the centrally controlled resources and they were deprived of the opportunities of communal communication (local newspapers and local social associations having been eliminated). Therefore only informal, person to person contacts have remained as means of attaining changes without the risk of appearing rebellious. These personal contacts were highly important on the other hand in receiving preinformation about goingtobe new regulations and about likelytobe personal changes. These contacts required special skills in handling relationships with the authorities. Yet, these relationships automatically gave way to social, political and financial manipulations and tactics, and at the same time they proved to be not only accidental but also rather temporary because of the frequent reallocation of state appointed directors and bureaucrats. The notion for not reallocated programs, values and partnerships made the activists of the cultural field to launch voluntary educational projects, like amateur art movements, performances and exhibitions, "private" educational circles held in apartments, circulating samizdat publications and form illegal voluntary cultural associations. These activities had very little or no access to public money and public institutions, if any, then based on the goodwill of some local civil servants, who themselves were subjects to change at any time.
The collapse of the centrally controlled social arena
When the MDP, the communist party eliminated the rest of the political movements in 1948 it set the aim of transforming Hungary according to the ideals of socialism. In the sphere of production this was to be achieved by changing the form of ownership (nationalization) and by introducing the system of planned economy. The word "profit" became one of the synonyms of capitalism and that of exploitation. Profitability as an aspect in its own was seldom considered by the planners. The huge investments of those years (e.g. the steel plants) have been a great burden on the country's economy. Yet at the same time "socialistic forms of production" have become highly developed, creating the completely state controlled social arena outlined above.
(Note: The term "developed country" usually refers to an economy which highly surpasses the productivity and output of the countries belonging to the third world. But by the 198O's Hungary and some similar countries could have been righteously labeled as "developed" if comparing them to the same third word countries in terms of their highly developed centralized control mechanisms, 'Hs').
However, these highly developed control mechanisms prevented the economy of Hungary (Prs) from being adapted to the rapid changes in the world market, following the first (1973) and then the second (1979) oil crisis. Due to the partly rigid (outward) partly soft (inward) economic nature of this bedding, resources (R) of the country became scarce, and R came closer and closer to Rs, i.e. the original resources of the country proved the be insufficient for the state. Furthermore, due to the lack of fast and direct information exchange on latest developments, the quality of domestic production (Prs) lagged more and more behind world standards. For a long time (19791985) the main concern of the hierarchy has been to maintain the status quo within the social arena, chiefly through foreign bank loans. This strategy aimed at financing the legitimacy of the hierarchy (H), forever being claimed to be firmly based on the socialistic forms of ownership of the resources (R) and those of the production (Pr). Culture (C) at the same time was financed to play the reflective part of legitimacy, where all stages of the past and all events of the present signal the continuous development of socialism and socialist culture (Figure 8).
H
C
R
Pr
Figure 8
At the same time, individual and group initiatives along the original tetraeder model started to organize themselves more and more to form the once infamous "second economy", in order to balance the insufficient operation of the same model.
If we wish to give an outline of the struggles within the social arena in Hungary from the mid 1960's to the mid 1980's, we can state that the economic reforms of 1968 were stopped by the hierarchy (party professionals and state bureaucracy) in 1972 and they maintained their power until about 1982 when the financial balance of the country could not be maintained any more. By that time the hierarchy accumulated such a large amount of Western bank loans which the country could not pay back without strict domestic economic measures. These loans however, were not invested into the restructuring of the economy but into preserving the state model. So when it came to the point when the loans and the interest were due to be paid back, the hierarchy could not rely on the primer productive sector of the country, but inevitably turned to the culturalsocial sphere for money and decided to cut state subsidy in the field of culture as well as in medical and social care. This, however, had a deep alarming effect on those engaged in these fields and the relationship between hierarchy and culture was changed. As soon as writers, artists and professionals in the cultural field were requested to become "productive", to make profit on their activities instead of receiving state subsidy, they immediately stood up for more political freedom and for both artistic and financial independence. The latter go hand in hand, since the then existing legal system concerning the sale of artistic products and staging plays was highly rigid and overregulated and thus clearly nonsuitable to manage profitoriented art and cultural activities. Open political struggle emerged in the social arena after a longlong silence during the 1985 elections and it became more and more articulated as the economic crisis pertained. This economic crisis is labeled by the hierarchy as a progress to create a marketcontrolled economy in Hungary.
The formation of pseudo-market conditions
Up to the early 1980's a network of cultural houses and cultural centers provided cheap or even free cultural services for the general public in Hungary. They worked on a very low budget, but nevertheless they organized educational courses, art clubs, movie and theater performances, exhibitions, discos, etc. They were classified by the Ministry of Finance as "surplus interested" institutions, meaning that their only duty by the end of the fiscal year was to submit a report to their higher authorities about the surplus amount of the state subsidy for the given year. This, naturally, forced all these institutions to spend all the money they have received, because otherwise they would have risked cuts in their next year's state subsidy. But they were certainly not asked to make profit either: the money they received was meant to finance their cultural activities.
Around 1983 the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture "gave the opportunity" to certain cultural institutions to become "mixed interest" institutions, i.e. allowed profitoriented activities, lowering however, at the same time their state subsidies (or just not raising it in accordance with the pace of inflation and increasing energy costs). As mentioned before, this has been labeled as a part of the process leading to a market economy.