New Books in Critical Theory Denys Gorbach, "The Making and Unmaking of the Ukrainian Working Class: Everyday Politics and Moral Economy in a Post-Soviet City" (Berghahn Books, 2024)
Feb 19, 2026
Denys Gorbach, a postdoctoral researcher and author of The Making and Unmaking of the Ukrainian Working Class, draws on years of ethnography in Kryvyi Rih. He explores everyday politics and moral economy, shifting readings of populism, and how housing and factory privatization reshaped workers’ expectations. He also discusses wartime mobilization, political fluidity, and what might reawaken mass political engagement.
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Class As Relational Practice
- Class is relational and formed through daily interactions, not a fixed category.
- Moral economy captures shared expectations and obligations that structure horizontal and vertical class relations.
Housing Privatization Reshaped Moral Ties
- Privatizing housing (often given free) created an intermediary property regime mixing private claims and public service obligations.
- Conflicting expectations around paying utilities reveal breakdowns in moral economy.
Factory Ownership Feels Public
- Kryvyi Rih's giant steel plant was privatized, renationalized, then re-privatized, producing ambiguous public/private perceptions.
- Workers still often speak of large Soviet-era enterprises as if they belong to the public commons.
