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Photo: “National Assembly of Bulgaria,” by Plamen Agov licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Hue is modified from the original.

Terziev, Lubomir. ““Sorosoids”: Dehumanization and open society in contemporary Bulgaria.” New Perspectives (2022)

Abstract

This text elucidates some of the uses and connotations of the word “sorosoid,” which has recently permeated the public discourse in Bulgaria, used to refer to individuals and organizations affiliated with Soros’ Open Society Foundation. I am particularly interested in the inflection “-oid,” which seeks to echo the word “humanoid.” In other words, my specific concern is with strategies of dehumanization of neoliberals in Bulgaria, whereby the fundamental values of open society in this country are challenged. The paper provides a glimpse of some key ideological attitudes in one of Europe’s post-communist democracies.

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The Illiberalism Studies Program studies the different faces of illiberal politics and thought in today’s world, taking into account the diversity of their cultural context, their intellectual genealogy, the sociology of their popular support, and their implications on the international scene.