Facing the challenges: social policy in Poland after 1990

Polish social policy is changing not only in the material sense but also on the level of public consciousness. This concerns not only citizens, but also researchers and policy makers. Social policy in Poland after 1990 has its own specificity. One of its features are the lack of clear direction of development and the constant need for amendments. Unsurprisingly, diversity of approaches can be also found on the cognitive level, although it is not reflected in all sets of studies. This regards not only ideological differences and various appraisals of the same facts, but also the often underestimated domination of particular paradigms. The latter can be discerned in this monograph as well, as the effect of the authors’ provenance and the widespread approval of certain ways of thinking about and analyzing particular fields of social policy. The monograph has been divided into two parts. The first consists of the general studies of changes that took place on the institutional level and in public consciousness. The second part focuses on evaluating changes that occurred in particular fields of social activity which are strictly connected with the state’s social policy. The selection of those fields and the dissimilarity of approaches should encourage the reader to reflect upon thevariability of importance of material and consciousness factors in evaluating social policy (Józef Orczyk, Foreword).

Foreword (Józef Orczyk)
The Polish Welfare State Birth and Twilight? (Stanisława Golinowska)
In Search of a New Post-Socialist Social Policy Model in Poland (Mirosław Księżopolski)
Going Mainstream – Feminist Influence on Comparative Welfare State Research (Dorota Szelewa)
Socioeconomic Changes and the Subjective Well-Being of Polish Society 1991–2011 (Piotr Michoń)
Labour Market Policy (Małgorzata Szylko-Skoczny)
Social Policy and Education in Poland (Józef Orczyk)
Family Policy in Poland (Bożena Balcerzak-Paradowska)
Polish Pension System: 1989–2012 (Joanna Ratajczak-Tuchołka)
Social Economy in Poland (Maciej Frączek, Jerzy Hausner)
Social Work and Social Workers in Poland (Marek Rymsza)
Long-Term Care for the Elderly in Poland (Paweł Łuczak)