„Plusy pozytywne i negatywne”. Próba wstępnego bilansu przemian społecznych w Polsce Ludowej

Abstract

Contemporary opinions on the social history largely differ from the model presented 40 or 30 years ago and the social differentiation is not necessarily based on social classes but equally on gender, ethnic, confessional or cultural particularities as well. My paper outlines the structure and dynamics of the Polish society in the Communist period but the general lines of the social differentiation at that time are still under discussion. The macrostructural changes included an increase of the industrial and urban population, the rise of the educated class with simultaneous conservation of the traditional peasantry and underdevelopment of the service sector. The main social categories discussed are the intelligentsia, the working class, the peasantry and agricultural workers, the Party as a social group, the (hypothetical) middle class, the remnants of the old lower middle class and the old social elite, a specific group of wealthy people living in a symbiotic relationship with the Party and socialism. The demographic processes, migrations, the gender problems, the role of the educational system, the new generation and the contradictory elements of the socialist and traditional culture co-existing in the Polish People’s Republic are discussed as well.