EN
Kitsch, as a phenomenon belonging to the domain of low culture, is today rather a subject for essayists and public discourse than for academic investigation. The very definition of kitsch has a pejorative sound. The author, however, tackles the theoretical questions related to the phenomenon and extensively discusses several ideas (including those of Hermann Broch and Abraham Moles) that are helpful in defining the concept of kitsch. She suggests an operational definition which could prove useful in social research, particularly research devoted to broader issues of consumerism or popular culture. With these goals in mind, she chooses those connotations of the concept of ‘kitsch’ that are signs of the special relation between the world of material things and consumption styles.