“Winners” and “Losers” as Constructs of the Dominant Discourse

Abstract

Elena Danilova — Head of the Department for the Analysis of Social Transformations, Institute of Sociology, RAS. Address: Bldg. 5, 24/35, Krzhizhanovskii St., Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation. E-mail: endanilova@gmail.com.

The article deals with the concept of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ frequently used in the discussion of social transformations in post-socialist countries. This approach is quite common in theorizing ‘transition’. Such dichotomy is seen as an interpretation of reality inevitably pushed by the current dominant discourse. It also argues that this discourse originated earlier in the debates about reformations in post-socialist countries, especially in Russia, and was related to the neoliberal ‘winner takes it all’ principle, often found in the public sphere.
Secondly, the hegemonic nature of neoliberal ideology and the role of the expert community are discussed in a way that explicates how this construction is produced and justified by the experts, and how it serves to legitimate social inequality and the current regime. There are many social factors defining gains or losses, however, the dominant discourse refers the designations of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ mostly to the one dimensional criterion of material success.
This article argues that the language of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ carries the danger of oversimplification of lines of social cleavage. It also reinforces the false assumption that the interaction between ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ is necessarily a zero-sum game. The losers of transformations are constructed and stigmatized as Others in a way that they are compelled to accept such fate. These constructions are neither true nor false; their constitutive strength relates to the fact that they have the power to construct social difference. Monitoring the uneven effects of social transformations is vital, but it is important that the framework provided by the construction of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ is employed carefully to capture of the full complexity of these processes.