The Changing Meanings of Repair in post-Soviet Estonia: From Necessity to Resistance

Abstract

Repair in the post-Soviet context shows a specific historicity, linked with Soviet consumer culture, that has caused the Soviet socioeconomic system be characterised as a ‘repair society’. People’s experiences and their narratives of the lively repair culture in the Soviet era are a vivid part of Estonian cultural memory. This article analyses how repair in Estonia has shifted from being an economic necessity to a form of resistance both to consumer society and the capitalist socioeconomic system. Criticism of consumer society has ecological and material foundations arising from experiences of the poor repairability of contemporary commodities. This article proposes that the changing materiality of commodities has political significance, shaping evaluations of the socioeconomic system and facilitating resistance to it. This resistance, including recently emerged repair movements, can be culturally informed, inspired and empowered by local cultural memory and legacies, as well as presenting more sustainable ways of managing.