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Dokonujące się procesy globalizacyjne, zmieniając permanentnie uwarunkowania naszego życia i wymuszając ciągłą modyfikację zachowań, oddziałują na nasze stany psychiczne i jakość życia. Autor, odwołując się do wyników reprezentatywnego badania kierowników rodzinnych gospodarstw rolnych z 2017 roku (N=3551), wskazuje, że konsekwencje postępujących procesów globalizacyjnych docierają do polskich rolników w postaci odczuwanych zagrożeń i wyzwań w stopniu umiarkowanym. Zagrożenia najsilniej odczuwane są w sferze moralnej, z kolei wyzwania w sferze egzystencjalnej dotyczącej zabezpieczenia finansowego na starość oraz w sferze pracy dotyczącej samodzielności i niezależności. Wzrost poczucia zagrożenia, czy wyzwań globalizacyjnych nie osłabia jednak wśród rolników zadowolenia z życia i optymizmu, co do przyszłości. Istotne znaczenie mają tutaj określone predyspozycje osobowościowe rolników - gotowość do aktywnego poszukiwania informacji w nowych sytuacjach, a także wsparcie ze strony rodzin dla takich działań. Utrzymujące się nadal silne więzi rodzinne wśród rolników (a także w mniejszym stopniu więzi wspólnotowe wyrażane silnym przywiązaniem do religii) okazują się odgrywać istotną rolę w "łagodnej" adaptacji rolników do zmieniającej się rzeczywistości społecznej. Polscy rolnicy - wydaje się - odczuwają zagrożenia i wyzwania globalizacyjne w stopniu umiarkowanym, "zdroworozsądkowo", bo nie są jeszcze społecznie zatomizowani. The ongoing globalization processes, permanently changing the conditions of our life and forcing a constantmodification of behavior, affect our mental states and quality of life. The author, referring to the results of arepresentative survey of family farm operators from 2017 (N = 3551), indicates that the consequences of the advancing globalization processes reach Polish farmers in the form of perceived threats and challenges to a moderate degree. The most intensely perceived threats were the ones related to the area of morality, and in the case of challenges -the ones related to the area of life conditions regarding financial security for old age and also related to the area of work regarding independence and autonomy. However, the growing sense of threat and globalization challenges does not weaken farmers' satisfaction with life and optimism about the future. The specific personality predispositions of farmers are of significant importance here - readiness to actively seek information in new situations, as well as family support for such activities. Family relations still strong among farmers (and, to a lesser extent, community relationship expressed by astrong attachment to religion) turn out to play an important role in the "gentle" adaptation of farmers to the changing social reality. It seems that Polish farmers feel the threats and global challenges to a moderate degree, "commonsensically", because they are not yet socially atomized.

The monograph should be seen as an attempt to present changes affecting the category of family farm owners in Poland over the last 70 years, since the end of World War II. These changes brought significant social transformations, including the dismantling of the landowner class (who had large agricultural farms in their possession), moving the state border westward and changing the multiethnic Polish society into one close to ethnic homogeneity. The main goal of this reflection is to recount ways in which family farms coped with various unfavorable forces and factors in order to remain in operation. One could say that the entire study can be viewed as a manifestation of the well-known phrase that served as the title of the James C. Scott book (1990): Domination and the Arts of Resistance. The monograph presented here refers to these analyses stemming from another edition of sociological research, completed within the framework of the MAESTRO project financed by the National Science Centre. The main goal of the project was to depict the functioning of agricultural family farms as the traditional sector of agriculture in Poland in the contemporary context of globalization processes. The farms were examined in terms of the principles of sustainable development as well as flexibility and resilience in reaction to various crises. The monograph is divided into four essential parts. The first part is devoted to the theoretical issues and methodological groundwork for the entire publication. The second part of the book aims to capture the changes that took place from 1994 to 2017, which was an adequate period to encompass the changes and metamorphoses that mostly happened as a result of two things: the regime transformation which began in 1990, and Poland’s accession to the European Union on May 1, 2004. The third part deals with the crucial issues of regional variations, mostly in regard to life strategies and strategies of operating agricultural farms. Finally, there is a fourth part which places the focus on select themes, such as rural lifestyles, food safety and security, farmers’ utilization of new computer and IT resources, and the potential for socio-political mobilization.

Autorzy analizują przeobrażenia rodzinnych gospodarstw rolnych, dokonujące się w naszym kraju po 1989 roku, odwołując się do danych z lat 19894 i 2017. Odnotowany został wzrost przeciętnego obszaru gospodarstwa oraz procesu dodzierżawiania ziemi. Wzrosło także znaczenie finansowania gospodarstw ze środków własnych. Gospodarstwa coraz bardzie bazują na własnych, rodzinnych zasobach pracy. Wzrasta ponadto liczna kobiet, obejmujących pozycje kierowników gospodarstw. Ponadto zmiany mentalne polskich rolników pokazują także nowoczesny, farmerski sposób prowadzenia gospodarstwa. The authors show some basic changes od family farms in Poland after 1989 regarding the results of research conducted in the years of 1994 and 2017. One might observe some increase of the average area of farm as well as the growing significance of the process of leasing the farmland. Moreover, the financing of farms from internal (family) sources has increased in the period under investigation. The same may be said about the significance of the internal, family sources of labour in the investigated period. One might also observe the growing number of women who take positions of farms operators. Moreover, major mental changes among farm operators show the increasing modern farmer-type way of managing the farms.

The results of research concerning the attitudes among the rural youth towards the integration of Poland with European Union are presented in the article. Taking into consideration the degree of being informed and interested by the young villagers in the integration problems, we can distinguish three categories of their attitudes towards "being involved in the integration matters": o f the observer - related to the feeling of being informed and expressing interest, the potential observer - related to the feeling of being uninformed and expressing interest and o f the outsider- related to the lack of interest in the matters concerning the integration process. This manner of measuring the degree of "being involved in the integration matters" is a factor that strongly determines the general attitude towards the integration of Poland with EU (positive attitude can be more often observed among the observers, whereas the negative attitude is presented by the outsiders and the potential observers). It also significantly affects the opinions concerning "the beneficians" and "the losers", and also the range of hopes and anxieties connected with the accession of Poland to EU (the observers are decidedly more optimistic than the outsiders and the potential observers). Finally, it also shapes the inclination to direct action in connection with the integration process (the observers decidedly more often than the outsiders declared not only for the voting for the accession Poland to the EU, but also participating in the accession referendum). The results of our research show that the level of knowledge with regard to the European integration among the members of Polish society is not only the best manner to receive social support for the integration process, but it is also the best strategy to create public consciousness enabling independent look for one’s own place in the new social situation after accession. Thus the role of the institutions aimed at promoting the European Union integration should not be stopped even after the successful European referendum.