Megaceremonials and sub-worlds: post-transformation transformations in Poles’ participation in culture

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to describe new cultural activity models which have developed in Poland after 1989 when Poles found themselves in a situation of strong dominance of the consumption culture and the pressure of a new cultural time model. The evolution of cultural behaviours has a two-direction character. One reflects a multi-sensual consumption of popular culture, the characteristic features of which include a routine-approach to carnival culture, closing in cultural time capsules, and focusing on efficient free time management (resulting in placing emphasis on eventfulness) while the other centres around the activities of inter-virtual cultural sub-worlds, which manifest a much more active and creative attitude to the participation in culture formation, frequently creating autonomous intellectual and cognitive universe, also in the axio-normative dimension. Both forms of participation in culture are becoming dominant in Poland and move towards the main trend of cultural practices, replacing their earlier forms.