1st Edition

The Polish Road from Socialism: The Economics, Sociology and Politics of Transition The Economics, Sociology and Politics of Transition

By Walter D. Connor, Piotr Ploszajski Copyright 1992

    What the contributors to this volume offer is neither a romantic version of the course of Polish history nor a jubilant account of the recovery of national independence and political choice. Rather, they offer a variety of tough-minded analytic perspectives on what comes when "the party's over" - not just the PSPR but the celebration marking its downfall. They focus on Poland's movement toward an internationally competitive market economy, a political democracy in which plural interests compete, and the constitution of a civil society that both tolerates and ameliorates conflict. The multidisciplinary contributors include Jan Mujzel, Keith Crane, Benjamin Slay, Kazimierz Poznanski; Jan Bossak, Wojciech Bienkowski, Wlodzimierz Wesolowski, Edmund Wnuk-Lipinski, Adam Sarapata, Andrzej Sicinski, Piotr Lukasiewicz, Krzysztof Nowak, David S. Mason, Adrzej Rychard, Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Jack Bielasiak, Janusz Reykowski, Stanislaw Gebethner, Miroslawa Marody, Edmund Mokrzycki, and Michael D. Kennedy.

    Preface, Introduction: Background to Crisis, PART I: FROM COMMAND TO MARKET, Some Practical Problems of Privatization-Through Polish Eyes, Poland and the International Economy in the 1980s: The Failure of Reforming Socialist Foreign Trade and Prospects for the Future, Resource Allocation: Capital, Adjustment and Competitiveness, PART 2: FROM CONSTRAINT TO CHOICE, Transformation of Social Order and Legitimization of Inequalities, Society and Bureaucracy, Attitudes on Everyday Life in the Emerging Postsocialist Society, Public Opinion, Values, and Economic Reform, Public Opinion in Poland's Transition to Market Democracy, PART 3: FROM CONTROL TO PLURALISM, Participation and Interests: Dilemmas of the Emerging Social and Political Structure in Poland, Polish Elections of 1990: Beyond the "Pospolite Ruszenie", The Dilemma of Political Interests in the Postcommunist Transition, Psychological Dimensions of a Sociopolitical Change: The Polish Case, Political Institutions in the Process of Transition to a Postsocialist Formation: Polish and Comparative Perspectives, The Political Attitudes of Polish Society in the Period of Systemic Transitions, PART 4: FROM ONE TRUTH TO MANY VOICES, The Legacy of Real Socialism, Group Interests, and the Search for a New Utopia, Transformations of Normative Foundations and Empirical Sociologies: Class, Stratification, and Democracy in Poland, Index

    Biography

    Walter D. Connor, Piotr Ploszajski, Alex Inkeles, Wlodzimier Wesolowski