Lost in Transition : Stories of Post-Cold War Poland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Giza, Anna.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (197 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Bristol University Press, 2026.

Summary:

This book examines the contradictions in the post-socialist transition in Eastern Europe. Focusing on organizations and the world of paid work, it uses Poland as a case study to explore the hidden consequences of the transition and its broader relevance for both Eastern Europe and the West.

Contents:

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The elusive 'society'

The canons of 'true science'

Common foundations of 'capitalism' and 'socialism'

'Savoir est pouvoir'

In search of an alternative paradigm

Aims and purpose of this book

1 Society and Sociability

'Society' and the positivistic sociology

Sociability and the interpretative sociology

Symbolic system of culture

Common knowledge

Moral competence

Social life as the process and the notion of figurations

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft in the hierarchically nested social system

The social system 'from above' and 'from below'

2 The Social Figurations of Socialism

Schismogenesis

Figurations of real socialism

Fighting the chaos, or working and living in a planned disorder

Living in constant moral tension, or the dismantled society

Living a lie , or the secondary-​circulation society

The familization of formal and public spaces

Symbolic geography and the mythological West

Common frame of sense

3 Embracing the Transformation

From Solidarity carnival to shock therapy

Solidarity: between trade union and political movement

The alternative plan and its supporters

'Accidental society'

Homo sovieticus

Social figurations as bad habits

4 Dismantling Socialism in Industry: Cultural Encounters in Privatized Enterprises

The Ugly Duckling and the Promised Land

The ugly duckling

The Promised Land

The total nature of a socialist enterprise

Cultural encounters in the economy

The communication style

Managing the insecurity

Poles from abroad

Conquistadors and paratroopers

Rigidity of procedures and overregulation

Competence despised, love scorned

New absurdities

Familism under pressure

Meeting the West.

5 Dismantling Socialism in Agriculture: Liquidation of the State Farms

The original sin

Enforcing collectivization

The community of the State Agricultural Farms

The vanguard of modernization

State Farms in the economic ecosystem

Liquidation

The accumulation of bad luck

6 Facing Capitalism: Re-​Configurations of Social Forces

Age in transition

Transformation and human dignity

Availability of alternatives

Intergenerational solidarity

Gender in transition

Women, get on tractors! Mobilizing women to enter the labour market

Industrialization and the educational gap

Ruralization of cities

Working two jobs

Gender identities under socialism

Transformation: re-​negotiating gender roles

The role of social resources in transformation

7 Lost in Transition, or the Great Absentee

Incapacitating sociability

Designing the new social system

Sociological sensitivity

Negotiated vs imposed social change

Appendix: back to embeddedness

Afterword: In Search of the Stolen Future Monika Kostera

References

Methodological Appendix

1. DIOSCURI: 'Cultural Encounters in the European Economy'

2. 'Labour Markets in Former State-​owned Farm Areas'

3. 'Deactivation of People Around Retirement Age'

4 'Shaping Poles' Self-​Knowledge in Public Discourse'

5. 'Cut offs'

Notes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Appendix

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781529233827

OCLC:

1600525672