This attempt to interpret Communist society through the total social fact of the gift takes up Mauss's strategy, which attempted to explain social reproduction without written laws or state institutions. It was a culture of chronic revolution (‘revolution’ in the etymological sense), where the rules of the game changed with each party congress, institutions were in a state of permanent reform, science discovered new truths every five years, and yesterday's heroes became the traitors of today. The very concept of living (...) in a transitory society renders every social form temporary and unreal - starting with the proclaimed disappearance of the State, the family, and private property. (shrink)

This is an introduction to the special issue of Filosofia-Philosophy dedicated to the memory of Ivaylo Ditchev (1955 – 2023), professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Sofia, Department of History and Theory of Culture. It combines personal recollections of Ivaylo with a brief overview of his work as a teacher, academic advisor and researcher in the fields of urban anthropology, digital cultures, current forms of political and civic participation. While broad in scope, his research works are united (...) by the exploration of the quest for identity in a situation of dynamic transformations of the cultural frames of reference, and relativisation of values. (shrink)