Crises of the communist and neoliberal orders 30 years later: A structural comparison between 1975 and 2019 Poland

Abstract

This article proposes to look at the current moment in the recent history of the so-called Central-European countries, with Poland as a critical case study, through a structural comparison with an earlier historical cycle, that is one of the first three decades of the communist rule in the region. Thus, I propose to compare the social and economic situation in Poland of circa 1975 with that of 2019, so 30 years after the establishment of a new given political order (30 years after 1945 and 1989 respectively). The paper will offer a general overview of the trajectory of Poland in the post-war era, based primarily on the perspective of the world-system theory and that of the critical sociology of elites, one which will also point to the essential structural contexts of the post-communist dynamics of society. This paper will be based on a basic observation: even if both the 1970s and late 2010s can be considered as periods of relative political stabilization and economic growth for the region as such, and Poland in particular, these countries are, at the same time, subjected to a considerable and even increasing economic dependence on the Western core. In the conclusions, it is argued that the proposed comparative approach, taking into account both an earlier historical cycle and the broader structural dependency of the region, may allow to cast a new light on the nature of current dynamics in Polish politics as well as on the possible future trajectories of the country.

Generational differences in attitudes to meritocracy: Sources of change in valuing education, innate abilities, and hard work in Poland

“…higher earnings were gaining importance, along with the growing importance of higher education for promotion in administrative and party structures (Gdula, 2011;Zarycki, 2020).…”

“…As a result of economic, political, and generational changes, a new socialist middle class emerged composed of nomenklatura members, technical intelligence, office workers, and the so-called private initiative, that is, owners of private workshops and small traders. New postulates of a closer link between higher education and higher earnings were gaining importance, along with the growing importance of higher education for promotion in administrative and party structures (Gdula, 2011; Zarycki, 2020).…”

On the Different Criteria of Global and Local Success for Scholars in Peripheral Social Sciences

“…Its ranks, especially if we define them in broad categories of people with higher education, have increased significantly in recent decades. However, this has also meant an increasingly sharp division of this group into the elites, who after 1989 gained significant influence on the government as well as numerous material privileges, and the rest, who usually could not count on access to any such resources despite the promises that had been made -in particular, the promises related to higher education, whose massification brought considerable material income to the elite of the field (who often worked several jobs in this period) but also resulted in a significant inflation of diplomas (Zarycki 2020). It is worth remembering, however, that for the upper, elite part of the Polish intelligentsia, the post-1989 period was usually a return to the field of power or to its proximity.…”