The Production of High Fidelity Audio Electronics and the Politics of Technological and Social Modernization in Late State Socialist Poland

Patryk Wasiak

This paper investigates the development of the production of High Fidelity (Hi-Fi), audios and the emergence of an accompanying audiophile culture in late state socialist Poland of the 1970s. My case study offers a discussion on the re-negotiating of the cultural values of a specifically marketed technology that was used as a status symbol in affluent market economy countries. In state-socialist Poland, a host of social actors appropriated Hi-Fi audios technologies and audiophile culture to be part of a nationwide project of technological and social modernization. I investigate how in this specific historical setting the mass-scale development and the production of Hi-Fi audios emerged, and how this was embedded into the government policy of building “consumer socialism.” This development also corresponded with a state-sponsored program of technological modernization, in which the electronics industry was identified as a flagship sector that received substantial government investment. I also discuss the emergence of a local audiophile culture, which was redefined by intermediary actors, from being a Western elitist “consumption microculture” into an accessible form of cultural uplift for working-class youth.

1. Introduction

2. High Fidelity and the Politics of Consumption in Market Economies and State Socialism

3. Manufacturing Audio Systems and the Politics of Polish “Consumer Socialism”

Conclusion

With this paper, I have sought to contribute to the sound studies discourse by demonstrating how a number of interest groups initiated the production of HEAs and how such actors played a role in the emergence of the audiophile culture in state socialist Poland. This study highlights the status of HEAs as a key category of products embraced by the sociotechnical imaginary of the nationwide modernization policy of the electronics industry during the building of consumer socialism in Poland in the 1970s. This article highlights the role of actors bound by the power relations of the state apparatus, the electronics industry, and the electronic engineering community while forming a specific auditory culture. It also aims to decentralize the topic of personal experience of audiophiles and to demonstrate how both HEA technology and audiophile culture are influenced by broader social, economic, and political contexts. Additionally, it demonstrates the usefulness of several interpretative frameworks in studying such contexts.

While this article discusses a specific local historical setting, I have also sought to offer some thoughts and possible relevant interpretative frameworks for studying audiophile culture as a complex sociotechnical system that is constantly reaffirmed and negotiated by several social actors. The first idea for this paper arose due to my surprise that, aside from Hagen and DeNora’s paper, there are virtually no studies on auditory cultures in state socialism. My contribution addresses this knowledge gap and investigates the case of an auditory culture that was appropriated from the West and embedded into an official setting as a positively valued hobby for the working-class youth. I hope that my paper will inspire sound studies scholars to conduct further historical research into the unexplored territory of the Eastern Bloc and other state socialist countries, exploring in particular the official auditory cultures. I believe that this study can have a broader impact by providing useful comparative material for scholars interested in the role of governmental agencies and state industries in pursuing local technological innovation in the production of audio as well as in the forming of auditory cultures and embedding them in the sociotechnical imaginary of nationwide projects of economic and social development.

Acknowledgement

Research for this article was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland research grant 2016/23/D/ HS3/03199. I would like to express my gratitude to Marcel Cobussen, Sharon Stewart, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped me to revise and improve this article.

4. The Electronic Engineering Community and the “Hi-Fi Social Movement”

5. Conclusion

6. References

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