ENRICH YOURSELVES AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LIFE! ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CONSUMPTION IN THE PRESS DISCOURSE DURING THE PERIOD OF TRANSFORMATION

The authoress discusses the propaganda of capitalism in the press discourse from the years 1989-1991, based on an analysis of texts published in the Warsaw daily 'Gazeta Wyborcza' and the Polish weekly 'Wprost'. The rhetoric of transition (or 'transformation') that is used there encouraged people to be entrepreneurial (mainly through the presentation of model individuals) and helped to form consumer attitudes. The authoress presents the image of the early stages of reform that was conveyed in the press, and its reflection in sociological studies; the autorepresentation of entrepreneurs in the press discourse; distinctions between the different possibilities offered by consumerism and the problems of postsocialist advertising, as well as the paradoxes of early capitalism as revealed in this press discourse.