BOOK REVIEW. ‟DEPENDENŢĂ ȘI DEZVOLTARE. ECONOMIA POLITICĂ A CAPITALISMULUI ROMÂNESC” [DEPENDENCY AND DEVELOPMENT. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ROMANIAN CAPITALISM] BY CORNEL BAN. CLUJ-NAPOCA: TACT PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2014, 293 P.

The book takes us through the past century and a half of Romanian history, analyzing in each of its seven chapters what Cornel Ban sees as distinct phases of the country’s position in relation to the world economy: the early departure from a feudalistic organization in the 19th century that marked the actual constitution of the Romanian nation state and its position of classical and then semiperipheral dependency (Chapter One), the five decades of state socialism (Chapter Two) followed by the various stages of post-socialist capitalism (Chapters Three to Seven). Coherent with the Polanyian framework it stems from, the analysis simultaneously follows the indicators of a gradual transformation of an agrarian economy into one of complex industry and services, and the ones related to the extent and depth of social rights (health, education and labour protection)

PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIA: IN SEARCH OF AMBIVALENCE

This paper is an inquiry into the blooming sector of personal and spiritual development in contemporary Romania. It is based on interviews with providers of such services, on content analysis of blogs and books dedicated to the topic, and on participation in several workshops. The critical literature linking the proliferation of the field of personal and spiritual development with the increasing pervasiveness of neoliberal logic has highlighted some of the features of the subjectivity invoked in these programmes: the sovereignty of the self in relation to its environment, the lack of importance of social ties and solidarity, and the lack of importance of the community. This analysis explores the empirical material in searching for the main points of ambivalence in relation to these desiderates, as well as the mutations that can be identified in the privileged sites of production of individuality that are personal and spiritual development workshops and trainings

CAREER ANCHORS REIMAGINED: EXPERTISE, STABILITY AND RECOGNITION IN STRUCTURED ORGANIZATIONAL FIELDS

This article explores how professionals in a multinational IT company construct career identities that intertwine ambition, recognition, and stability—challenging dominant models that equate ambition with autonomy and instability. Drawing on a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design—48 qualitative interviews and a survey of 764 employees—it identifies “expertise” as a distinct career anchor defined not merely by technical skill, but by internal recognition, symbolic legitimacy, and trusted authority. Quantitative validation through factor analysis confirmed a revised nine-anchor model, with widespread hybrid identities (e.g., expertise + lifestyle, expertise + security) emerging as normative, not transitional. The article reframes security not as passivity but as an entitlement earned through excellence. Interpreted through a career field and habitus lens, these findings reposition career anchors as relational identity positions shaped by organizational recognition regimes, symbolic capital, and contextual fit. The study contributes a grounded critique of protean and boundaryless career models, proposing an alternative understanding of stability, ambition, and growth in contemporary structured work environments

Personal and Spiritual Development in Contemporary Romania: In Search of Ambivalence

This paper is an inquiry into the blooming sector of personal and spiritual development in contemporary Romania. It is based on interviews with providers of such services, on content analysis of blogs and books dedicated to the topic, and on participation in several workshops. The critical literature linking the proliferation of the field of personal and spiritual development with the increasing pervasiveness of neoliberal logic has highlighted some of the features of the subjectivity invoked in these programmes: the sovereignty of the self in relation to its environment, the lack of importance of social ties and solidarity, and the lack of importance of the community. This analysis explores the empirical material in searching for the main points of ambivalence in relation to these desiderates, as well as the mutations that can be identified in the privileged sites of production of individuality that are personal and spiritual development workshops and trainings.

GUEST EDITORS’ FOREWORD: SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND ECONOMY: EMERGING SPIRITUALITIES AND THE FUTURE OF WORK

This issue of Studia Sociologia focuses on alternative forms of spiritualities and the proliferation of literatures and programs of self-development (Carrette and King, 2005) emerging in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This thematic group organizes an extensive discussion centred on the ways in which these forms of religiosity/spirituality are constituted through bio-politic mechanisms of generating a productive subjectivity (Foucault, 2007, 2008) and through socio-economic technologies of articulating a competitive and pro-active personality in the context of a new neo-liberal order (Dardot and Laval, 2014). The participating authors explore the emergence of alternative forms of spiritualities within the new post-socialist work environment and the increasing emphasis placed on the entrepreneurial development of the self; they seek to analyse the processes that converge towards supplying the post-socialist citizens with the motivational structures needed to become more competitive and productive in the global capitalist economy into which CEE countries have been incorporated in the past two decades

Spiritualities and neoliberalism:Changes and continuities

Since the 1960s, sociologists of religion have been increasingly focused on the study of belief practised outside institutional religious settings. This mainly centres on what Lynch (2007) terms ‘the new spirituality’ – progressive practices and values informed by conceptual, material and social resources associated with established belief systems but detached from their institutional roots. The cultural expansion of such movements, in Europe and North America in particular, throughout the 1970s appeared to presage a dramatic transformation in religious practice. However, by the 1990s, it became clear that there was little evidence of large-scale change, either in the cultural importance of established religions or the number of religious practitioners engaging with established theological traditions. Consequently, engagement with the new spirituality has remained a minority interest compared to established religions. Attention has therefore turned to new spirituality as a socio-cultural presence, through spiritualized practices becoming embedded beyond the contexts of their original development, often in secularized forms (e.g. yoga). These subjectivity-related discourses have become integral to production and consumption processes in contemporary capitalism (Heelas, 2008).</p