Polarization and the political agenda: income inequalities in political parties’ manifestos in Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe paper approaches the topic of economic inequality in a political discourse in Poland. It is based on a content analysis of 43 political manifestos from the elections held in Poland between 2001 and 2011. The analysis confirms that growing economic polarization of Polish society was rarely challenged during the democratic transition in the crucial party documents. The longitudinal approach allows for capturing the differences in the way inequality are referred to in the political before and throughout the economic crisis ignited in 2008, showing and that, with the exception of one political party, the issue of income inequality was still absent from the political agenda at times when it was one of the crucial topic in political debates elsewhere. Contrary to most studies on political manifestos which apply a quantitative approach, this paper offers qualitative content analysis concentrated on one important political theme.