People's Poland: Patterns of Social Inequality and Conflict

(Hardback)

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This book examines socioeconomic and political conditions in postwar Poland and focuses on the nature of social stratification and structural conflict. Majkowski provides a brief analysis of Marx's theory of class and class conflict. There is a discussion of the role played by the Communist party in creating changes in Poland after WWII. A major part of the book is devoted to a description of Polish workers' upheavals from 1956 to 1980, and to a discussion of the role of different social classes in the insurrections. The author ... examines the limitations of Marx's theory of class and class conflict. He presents alternative theories of class and class conflict relevant for socialist societies of the Soviet type, and identifies the key variables accounting for class conflict. Majkowski's work is based on official State data, foreign books and periodicals, and interviews with Polish personalities, including Lech Walesa, and uses Smelser's value-added method of analysis of social movements. The book is well written and useful to all those interested in the comparative study of political systems, social stratification, and conflict. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate readership.-Choice
"This book examines socioeconomic and political conditions in postwar Poland and focuses on the nature of social stratification and structural conflict. Majkowski provides a brief analysis of Marx's theory of class and class conflict. There is a discussion of the role played by the Communist party in creating changes in Poland after WWII. A major part of the book is devoted to a description of Polish workers' upheavals from 1956 to 1980, and to a discussion of the role of different social classes in the insurrections. The author ... examines the limitations of Marx's theory of class and class conflict. He presents alternative theories of class and class conflict relevant for socialist societies of the Soviet type, and identifies the key variables accounting for class conflict. Majkowski's work is based on official State data, foreign books and periodicals, and interviews with Polish personalities, including Lech Walesa, and uses Smelser's value-added method of analysis of social movements. The book is well written and useful to all those interested in the comparative study of political systems, social stratification, and conflict. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate readership."-Choice

Author Bio

jkowski /f Wladyslaw