Postsocialist Poland Research Articles

Planning local centres in outer suburbs – The need for a proactive approach towards planning in post-socialist Poland

Chaotic post-socialist suburbs need retrofitting through planning a system of local centres. The paper is aimed at recognizing the orientation of recent suburban planning in Poland through a focus on centres and identifying conditions for and examples of a proactive approach to planning local centres. The hierarchy of centres and the set of functions assigned to them is important since it could prevent the dispersion of public facilities and strengthen the potential of higher-order centres. Documents subjected to analysis encompassed spatial policies of 27 suburban municipalities included in the Functional Area of Warsaw. The Polish spatial planning system neglects centres as a category of functional, economic, and social space, leaving municipalities complete freedom in planning them. The study proved that a system of local centres should become an urban planning standard since it helps municipalities locate public functions more reasonably. A vision of local centre development is rarely based on rational premises. The Polish case shows that in outer suburbs, a proactive approach to LC planning that involves designing a desired future and then inventing ways to create that future state is still a long way off.

Middle class by effort? Immigration, nation, and class from a transnational and intersectional perspective

ABSTRACT This article examines how highly skilled immigrants from Poland become middle-class in Germany through a transnational and intersectional lens. Hence, it asks what is the middle-class, and who and where belongs to it. First, it considers the fluidity of social class in post-socialist Poland to deconstruct middle-classness. Second, it draws on Reckwitz's distinction between the new and old middle classes in Germany and their factions to argue that immigrants cannot become middle class members by default. Based on the analysis of empirical material consisting of narrations of Polish immigrants, the article asks if Polish immigrants become middle class ‘by effort’. The analysis shows that Polish immigrants’ habitus locates them in-between different middle-class factions. The narrations suggest that these immigrants experience discrimination and exclusion, but – curiously – also demonstrate these immigrants’ lack of awareness of structural barriers in access to the middle-class factions in Germany. It argues that such ‘blindness’ to structural underpinnings of exclusion is a result of the entanglements of nationalism and neoliberalism, for example, the immigrants’ belief in meritocratic principles. Finally, the article suggests avenues for future theory-building by addressing the intersection of social class, gender, life course, and ethnicity to better understand middle-classness of immigrants.

Can the party family approach explain Polish partisan positions? A case study on the policy field of higher education in post-socialist Poland

ABSTRACT Research on partisan positions on higher education policies has focused to date mainly on parties in sustained democratic regimes in Western Europe. This study compares these findings with Polish parties’ positioning and investigates the extent to which parties’ preferences in post-socialist Poland can be explained by their party family affiliations. Poland provides an interesting case because of its socialist heritage of strong government control in the higher education sector and the rather fluid party system with a comparatively large share of populist right parties. By means of a qualitative content analysis of 41 party manifestos from 1989–2019, partisan positions of Christian democratic, social democratic, liberal, agrarian, and populist right parties are categorized along the re-distributive and control dimension of higher education policies. While party families can explain Polish parties’ positioning on the control dimension, there is a cross-party consensus to expand the sector and increase public funding due to strong popular demand after the transformation which contrasts with the positions of West European parties. Key results are a rising salience of this policy field in party manifestos and a detailed description of populist right parties’ preferences for government control of higher education institutions and expansion of this sector.

“They look better on the breasts”: Advertisement, sexuality, and the bra business in postsocialist Poland

This article examines the 1990s transition from socialism to capitalism in Poland through the lens of the changing market of underwear. Based on oral history interviews, archival research of bra production companies, as well as an analysis of contemporary press reports, I examine how the integration of the Polish economy into the global capitalist system post 1989 influenced its sexual culture. This article shows how the end of the public sector’s monopoly on the production of underwear and the rise of the private sector introduced new form of bras that were codified as sexual by the media and manufacturers themselves. These new types of products mimicked Western European brands, distancing themselves from the socialist era underwear, and incorporated new technology designed to model and discipline female bodies. Through a deep analysis of a 1996 article on the bra business from The Electoral Gazette [Gazeta Wyborcza], the biggest daily newspaper in Poland, I show how the liberal media were ambivalent to such changes and portrayed it as differences between generations of women in the face of calls for stricter censorship from conservative politicians and the Catholic Church.

ФЕНОМЕН ИСТОРИЧЕСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ КАК ФАКТОР РОССИЙСКО-ПОЛЬСКИХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ

The purpose of this work is to study the influence of public opinion on the formation of modern Russian-Polish relations. The work concretizes the concept of the phenomenon of “historical politics” in the context of Poland’s foreign policy strategy in the eastern direction in the conditions of post-bipolar world. The article analyzes the mechanisms of formation of public opinion in the focus of relations between the Russian and Polish Republics. It is substantiated that the revanchist position of the Polish political elite in its focus on deforming national consciousness and historical memory led not only to the strengthening of anti-Russian sentiments in Polish society, but also to an increase in conflict potential in the East European region. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that the leading factor in the formation of public opinion in post-socialist Poland in relation to the Russian Federation is the activity of state-public organizations, which act as a channel for the implementation of the concept of “historical policy” of Warsaw in strengthening its geopolitical influence in the space of the former USSR.

ПОРІВНЯЛЬНИЙ АНАЛІЗ РОЗВИТКУ ГРОМАДЯНСЬКОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА В УКРАЇНІ ТА ПОЛЬЩІ

A comparative analysis of the processes of institutionalization of civil society in Ukraine and Poland was carried out. It was revealed that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the situation with social and political movements in Ukraine and Poland was similar, but soon the situation began to undergo deep and significant distortions. At the same time, the thesis about the consequential nature of the revitalization/weakening of civic activity in connection with uneven economic development or decline of the national economy cannot withstand criticism, because there is a correlation here, and not a clear determination. It was revealed that the significant differences between Ukraine and Poland that have developed over the past 30 years are caused not only by the economic reforms of the 1990s, but also by the dynamics of the activity of the nongovernmental sector, which was often the driving force behind the reformation of post-socialist Poland with further movement and entry into the European Union in 2004. of the Union. Highlighting the main features during the contextualization of both processes in the states allows us to talk about the set of factors and reasons that became the reasons for satisfactory or weakened movement and liveliness of civil initiatives. Based on objective data, it seems possible to recommend certain ways to improve the current state of affairs, or to break mediocre trends. All this together forms a powerful theoretical-methodological complex of practical direction, in which a clear necessity for modern Ukraine can be traced. During the active discussion about Euro integration and Atlantic aspirations, there is a direct need for a road map, which can be drawn up only if there is a base of empirical material, which is partially offered to us by the Republic of Poland.

Queering Sexual and Gender Citizenship in (Anarcho-)Feminist Zines in Post-Socialist Poland

The article analyzes concepts of sexual and gender citizenship emerging in feminist, lesbian, and queer zines in post-socialist Poland. It focuses on oral history interviews and discourses manifested in the following zines: Łechtaczka (Clitoris), girlz get united! ( ggu!) and Lesbijki i Geje Międzynarodowa wymiana Przyjaźni ( Lesbian & Gay Hospitality Exchange International, L/GHEI). After contextualizing the Polish anarcho-feminist zine scene, this article analyses how post-socialist transnational discourses developed within underground publications. By focusing on ggu! and L/GHEI, it argues that feminist and queer zines reconceptualized sexual and gender citizenship while disrupting binary divisions (such as national/foreign, Eastern post-socialist/Western never-socialist geographies)—from both the anarchist and assimilationist perspectives. The article focuses then on a locally distributed zine: the lesbian-queer Łechtaczka. This publication shows how grassroots concepts of sexual and gender citizenship challenged those imposed by the Polish church–state system, as well as those harbored by misogynistic and homophobic groups of the punk scene. This article ends by highlighting how the analysis of ggu!, L/GHEI, and Łechtaczka allows us to see the complexity of identities and networks emerging in grassroots feminist communities and understand the complicated nature of discourses concerning the local and global reconceptualization of sexual and gender citizenship.

Education in Times of War

The 15th issue of On_Education deals with the history and present of wartime education in different times, sociopolitical contexts and geographical spaces, such as Ukraine, Japan, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, post-socialist Poland, post-civil war Lebanon, post-apartheid South Africa or post-fascist Germany. The issue focuses on the different – often Janus-faced and highly ambivalent – roles and functions that education systems tend to play in societies’ responses to wars, in the preparation for war, as well as in the educational and sociopolitical dynamics that tend to shape educational systems before, during, and after wars (including so called ‘cold wars’). We have invited analyses of these complex issues from different methodological perspectives, disciplines, and research fields (such as philosophy, history of education, comparative education, and others).

Neoliberalization of urban policy-making and planning in post-socialist Poland – A distinctive path from the perspective of varieties of capitalism

Discussion of neoliberalization of urban policy-making and planning reflects upon evolutionary processes of Western capitalisms and their history. At the same time, in-depth comparative studies on the global diversity of capitalism recognize Eastern Europe as distinctive from Western capitalisms. The paper presents how the paradigm of neoliberalism shaped urban planning and development trajectories in Poland following 1989 through the lenses of the specific characteristics of capitalism in CEE region. Several factors that define the ‘new’ capitalism in Poland and distinguish it from neoliberal paths of development in Western Europe inspired analysis of the policy field of planning and urban development, e.g.: the paths towards departure from the idea of communism and its heritage, the role of Polish state as a regulator of institutional changes, a deficit of investment and social capital, and, especially, the dominant role of foreign investors. This research extends the diversity of conceptualization of ‘neoliberalism and planning’ by the experience in Eastern Europe. Following the perspective of variety of capitalism in CEE region, the paper emphasizes the significant role of foreign investors in the neoliberal paths of urban transformations. The research also indicates that the Polish variant of neoliberalism created the unprecedented liberalisation and negation of planning through the use of a minimalist approval system in land development.

Пересборка прошлого как инструмент политической борьбы: публичная история в постсоциалистической Польше

Пересборка прошлого как инструмент политической борьбы: публичная история в постсоциалистической Польше

Regional professionals, American activists, and the Iron Curtain: transnational memory work during the Cold War in the Jewish neighbourhood of Kraków

ABSTRACT In the search for the roots of the cosmopolitanization of Polish memory in the first decade of the twenty-first century, this article looks past the chronological boundaries of post-socialist Poland. It identifies regional memory professionals as the key “scale” in transnational memory work. It demonstrates that the present state of Jewish sites of Kraków is the outcome of transnational work conducted from as early as the 1970s, and it is the effect of competition and collaboration among Jews from the American diaspora, Polish Jews, and Polish regional memory professionals. In a field regulated by the Polish socialist state, diaspora Jews tried to impose on their Polish collaborators their vision of Jewish sites. Polish Jews fought to protect those same sites as a key component of their identity work. Prompted by local and transnational Jewish pressure, ethnically Polish professionals discovered the Jewish past for themselves. They began by protecting Jewish sites, later turning them into valuable parts of the heritage of Poland and, eventually, into a constitutive element of Polish heritage. This article claims that it is precisely regional memory professionals who are the key to transnational memory work.

Motives for Combining Motherhood with Employment: Evidence for Medium and Highly Educated Polish Women Around the EU Accession

Abstract This article provides insights into employment decisions of mothers and mothers-to-be in a post-socialist Poland around the entry to the EU. Previous studies for this country continuously pointed to a strong determination among mothers to be employed during the economic transformation, despite increasing obstacles to combining paid work with childrearing over the 1990s. We analyse in-depth interviews to explore women's motives to work for pay. We investigate how these motives are related to women's childbearing experiences and intentions. Our analyses show that motherhood was central in women's lives at this point in Polish history, but females sought to combine it with employment. We also find that women's perceptions about their ability to balance work and motherhood were strongly related to the meanings that they attached to paid work.

Montessori Pedutology

The subject of the analysis is the reception of Montessori education in post-socialist Poland. The author focuses mainly on the models of pedeutological research to emphasise the important role played by the teacher as a professional, educator, but also a human being in this alternative upbringing and education. He recalls the most important results of research on the specificity of teaching work in Montessori institutions.

Beyond transparency: the communist-era secret police archives in postsocialist Eastern Europe

ABSTRACT The communist-era secret police archives have a peculiar afterlife in postsocialist Eastern Europe. On the one hand, those archives have become the site to articulate different visions of justice and social transformation and harboured the modernist promise of transparency, and, on the other, the secret police archives, especially in Poland, have become the object of popular suspicions of treachery and secrecy, with respect to their informational content, political instrumentalization, and highly restricted public access. This article focuses on the contentious popular cultural-political life of the communist-era secret police archives in postsocialist Poland. It examines the way those archives have come to produce such ambivalent desires and attachments across social groups and classes, and become part of hegemonic political struggles. Specifically, I focus on Poland’s state-run Institute of National Remembrance, which manages those archives and prosecutes the ‘crimes against the Polish nation.’ By drawing on my ethnographic research at this Institute and analysing popular cultural productions, especially, the ‘documentary-play’ called ‘Files,’ performed by the well-known ex-dissident ‘Theater of the Eighth Day,’ my article shows how this Institute and theatre performance seek to popularize different understandings of the archive and forms of knowing, feeling, and doing.

Models of Community-Friendly Recreational Public Space in Warsaw Suburbs. Methodological Approach

In recent years, after the rapid and chaotic suburbanization in the 1990s, public spaces were gradually appearing in the new suburbs of postsocialist Poland. It is worth verifying to what extent these spaces are used on a daily basis. This paper aims to present a method of measuring the utility value of recreational public spaces and to determine the relationship between the utility value of space and its publicness. It suggests models of publicness of the most community-friendly recreational public spaces in Warsaw suburbs. As the research shows, intended diversity has the greatest influence on the prosocial character of space. Proximity, on the other hand, does not influence utility value so much. Location at some distance from the main nodes of activity and the highest concentration of houses, but with safe pedestrian access, is of more importance and should be promoted as a condition of successful suburban recreational space. The main conclusion from the research is that the most community-friendly recreational spaces do not have to be fully public. The measurement tools used in analyzing socio-spatial relations contributes to the development of the academic methods of studying the quality of public space.

Unheard Voices: Discourse Analysis of Press Representations of People with Disabilities and Their Caregivers in Postsocialist Poland

The article is devoted to the issue of disability, embedded in the Polish - post-socialist - reality. The author focused on presenting both the political situation in the country and the media discourse around disabled people and their keepers. The background of the ongoing public discussion on people with disabilities is the topic of abortion, also widely present in the Polish media. The analysis of the press discourse (Gazeta Wyborcza) carried out for the purposes of this article not only provides a bitter summary of the situation of this neglected social group, but is also an opportunity to show the real life problems faced by the weakest representatives of Polish society every day life.

School architecture for primary education in a post-socialist country: a case study of Poland

ABSTRACT The present educational paradigm, fundamentally unchanged since the 19th century, does not meet 21st-century educational needs. This paradigm shift must be accompanied by a strong educational architecture that fosters the skills needed for 21st-century success including creativity and cultural awareness. The present study investigates the primary school architecture of post-socialist Poland, tracing its evolution and asking whether its issues apply universally. A comparative review of representative primary school buildings illustrates that their developmental progress has been superficial, as only external forms have been adjusted. The standard spatial arrangement of the traditional corridor and classroom layout has remained stagnant. This layout is oversimplified, inflexible in design, and works against learner-centred pedagogies that stress diversity and multiplicity. This article highlights the inadequacy of Polish primary school spaces for 21st-century educational needs. The results indicate that this is a universal problem since corridor and classroom layouts are widely applied in all Western countries.

Unholy Alliances? A Case Study of Cooperation between Churches and the Radical Right Group Młodzież Wszechpolska in Poland

Abstract Much has been written about the increasing influence of the Catholic Church in post-socialist Poland and its role in shaping the Polish national identity. As a result, the ways in which many Polish radical right groups have built their ideologies on Catholicism has also been studied. However, despite evidence of personal contact between clergymen and radical right figures over the past few decades, little is known about the intensity of these relationships and the advantages that right-wing groups might obtain from association with churches. This study aims to contribute to filling this knowledge gap by examining the relationship between churches and clergymen with the radical right in Poland by performing a case study of the group Młodzież Wszechpolska (MW, All-Polish Youth). By drawing on Social movement theory and borrowing from methods such as social network and protest event analysis, the paper uses joint events as an indicator of links and analyzes Facebook announcements posted by MW. The detected events (N = 170) primarily centered around cultural or historical issues and indicated that MW benefited from material resources and personal relationships facilitated by churches. Collaboration manifested not only as religious action but also in the involvement of clergymen as discussion participants at public events and churches as venues where MW could hold meetings. Therefore, churches can be used as a base for spreading ideology and approaching potential supporters. In addition, the presence of ecclesiastical actors can function as a legitimizing factor for increasing acceptance of MW and, ultimately, deradicalizing the group’s image.

Orthodoxy, Social Mobility, and Economic Prosperity in Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland

Orthodoxy, Social Mobility, and Economic Prosperity in Socialist and Post-Socialist Poland

Migration Policy of Post-Socialist Poland: Dynamics of Strategic Approaches

Migration Policy of Post-Socialist Poland: Dynamics of Strategic Approaches