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Wstęp: W artykule przedstawiono obecne wyzwania związane z prowadzeniem polityki publicznej wobec niepełnosprawności oraz omówiono ramy prawne systemu ubezpieczeń społecznych dla osób z niepełnosprawnościami wraz z regulacjami mającymi na niego bezpośredni wpływ. Podkreślono kluczową rolę ryzyka niezdolności do pracy oraz nieprzystawalność podstawowych założeń systemowych tworzonych w drugiej połowie lat dziewięćdziesiątych. Omówiono założenia obecnego oraz plany nowego systemu orzecznictwa, a także kontekst międzynarodowy istniejących przepisów w zakresie niepełnosprawności. Cel: Ocena trudności wynikających z obowiązywania obecnego i planowania nowego systemu orzecznictwa oraz ocena możliwości zmian. Materiały i metody: W artykule przedstawiono analizę na podstawie piśmiennictwa z zakresu polityki publicznej wobec osób z niepełnosprawnościami oraz prawa ubezpieczeń społecznych i prawa osób z niepełnosprawnościami. Wyniki: We wnioskach wskazano, że choć złożoność potencjalnej reformy systemu ubezpieczeń społecznych związanych z niepełnosprawnością skłania do odkładania bardziej całościowych działań na kolejne lata i kadencje, to reforma orzecznictwa jest zarówno możliwa, jak i konieczna do przeprowadzenia – jako początek ewolucji, a nie rewolucji systemowej.

Artykuł przedstawia wyniki obserwacji (prowadzonej różnymi metodami) społecznych skutków pandemii COVID-19 w wiejskich społecznościach lokalnych w okresie od 1 września 2020 do 31 sierpnia 2021 r., co stanowi kontynuację prezentacji badań skutków pierwszej fali pandemii. Na tym etapie analizy szczególny nacisk położono na egzemplifikację i wyjaśnienie niechętnego czy wręcz wrogiego stosunku do szczepień przeciwcovidowych na wsi i w niektórych regionach. Nie zaniechano jednak uprzednio analizowanych wątków, czyli: funkcjonowania lokalnego systemu władzy w sytuacji centralnych/centralistycznych presji, potencjalnego negatywnego wpływu Kościoła katolickiego na postawy wobec szczepień, zastanawiających skutków dla gospodarki lokalnej, a także zdalnego nauczania z jego nowymi – także moralnymi – problemami. Obserwacje te mogą służyć do rekonstrukcji funkcjonowania „lokalnej społeczności ryzyka”, ukazują też niektóre aspekty funkcjonowania współczesnego społeczeństwa polskiego (np. głębokość podziałów społecznych).

A protocol of a review.

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie wstępnych wniosków wynikających z analizy materiałów zebranych w ramach konkursu pamiętnikarskiego „Życie codzienne w czasach koronawirusa”. W artykule skupiamy się na tym, jak w kontekście pandemii COVID-19 była przedstawiana w pamiętnikach polska wieś i jak pandemia wpłynęła na życie codzienne jej mieszkańców. W pierwszej części tekstu prezentujemy metodologiczne aspekty konkursu przeprowadzonego wspólnie przez SGH i UMK od 23 marca do 19 lipca 2020 r. oraz wskazujemy wybraną do analizy grupę pamiętników prowadzonych przez mieszkańców wsi oraz osoby związane ze wsią więziami rodzinnymi. Następnie omawiamy kluczowe wątki, które dominowały w relacjach pamiętnikarzy: 1) kreślenie obrazu wsi jako azylu i oazy bezpieczeństwa; 2) pojawiające się obawy, napięcia i uprzedzenia wobec przyjezdnych; 3) przewartościowanie relacji we wspólnotach wiejskich; 4) zmiany w codziennym funkcjonowaniu wsi i wyzwania z związane z realizacją podstawowych aktywności życiowych.

Our goal is to analyze the disability policy making process in Poland on the example of implementing the assumptions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The key tool we use is the model of the five streams of the public policy process: problem, solutions, politics, process and program. In particular, we look at the role played by the movement of people with disabilities in this process. We claim that the weakness of the movements and the origins of activism of people with disabilities other than in Western countries makes the implementation of the Convention in Poland difficult and often ends in failure.

Researchers dealing with modern unemployment point to its negative impact on the unemployed people’ quality of life. In the article, we analyze this relationship focusing on the perspective of contemporary Polish unemployed, whose experience is considered in the context the changes that have taken place at the labor market after the systemic transformation of 1989. In the text, we argue that the unemployed experience a sense of insecurity as a consequence of the uncertain situation on the labor market. There is also a lack not only of stable income but also of emotional and institutional support. All of these builds up a traumatic and long-lasting experience that many unemployed people are unable to cope with. Such experience can be a bigger obstacle in returning to the labor market than more easily perceptible barriers, for instance, the lack of adequate qualifications.

Starting from the notion of precarity, we describe how authors of memoirs of the unemployed try to limit the consequences of unemployment and what difficulties they encounter. We refer to four main areas of protection:work, state institution, community and family. The conclusions point to a strong link between them. The key role is played by the family, while the state institution and the community play less significant role. The labour market and offices are particularly negatively evaluated. In the article we look in detail at the efforts of the unemployed in the area of searching for and performing jobs, which sometimes even deepen their precarity. We are also analysing internships and cash benefits for children, the so-called 500+. While internships do not fulfill their function and rather serve to prolong the situation of uncertainty, the 500+ benefit, managed mostly by women, has a rather positive effect.

The article sheds light on the key concepts of urban anthropology and sociology. The author analyses various schools and theories of urban anthropology and sociology, starting with the Chicago School/Ecological School and ending with contemporary concepts of creative and global cities. The article addresses issues such as: semiotic aspects of a city, memory and heritage of a city, as well as the concept of the mental map. The author analyses also the problem of urban crisis and its consequences such as: suburbanization and shrinking cities, segregation, inequality, and gentrification. The article also discusses the idea of the right to the city and urban social movements as well as the process of urban renewal.

Urban Resilience and New Urban Policies The article analyses new urban policies and the question of urban resilience. The author focus on two case studies: the examples of “superblocks” idea in Barcelona and the idea of “15-minute city” in Paris. Both initiatives are now becoming model solutions, providing inspiration for other cities adapting to the new challenges. Moreover, both cities in the middle of the 19th century, as a result of the revolutionary reconstruction of the urban fabric, have also become model examples for other cities and symbols of the new urban way of life. The analysis, based on such examples, allows the phenomena to be explained in a long-term perspective, indicating the role of the city and urbanity in the process of initiating social change processes.

The article discusses two ideas of the city in the Polish public discourse: the city as a commons and its antithesis – the city as the sum of private property. In the first part of the article, the author analyses the processes in which both ideas were developed. In the second part of the article the author analyses the role of Polish urban social movements, which are one of the few social actors that discussed the idea of the city as a commons when Polish public discourse was dominated by neoliberal dogmas in which the city was reduced to the sum of private property. In conclusion, according to Victor Turner’s concept of social change, the author analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reception of both ideas in Polish public discourse.

The article addresses the issue of the so-called refugee crisis in Europe from the perspective of ignorance studies and seeks to establish the mechanisms whereby ignorance is created through categorizations. We depart from the proposal of Proctor and view ignorance as either “native state,” “lost realm,” or “strategic ploy.” In all three, ignorance is an unalienable part of social action. The case of Polish academic research on refugees before and after 2015 is explored in order to establish who ignores what, when, and why, when categorizing, and to analyze the relationship between ignorance and social action. In the Polish refugee field, the crisis of 2015 was the moment when the refugee issue stepped out of the shadows and attracted the attention of the public and policymakers. The analysis of the category “refugee” in Polish scholarship before 2015 demonstrates that the category was based on culturalization and idealization; thus, the socio-political and pragmatic aspects of the group’s characteristics and actions were systematically ignored, and the ignorance worked as a “lost realm.” After 2015, a new body of scholarship emerges in which the category “refugee” acquires negative connotations with security threat or fakeness. In the new scholarship, ignorance is a strategic framing that sets the category of “refugee” outside the humanitarian issues. We claim that the new categorizations follow the logic of culturalization and moralization typical of the previous period. Strategic ignorance inherent in the categorizations that dichotomize “good” and “bad” refugees, or “refugees” and “migrants,” unlocks the potential for political action.

The main purpose of this article is to discuss the achievements of biographical research at the Institute of Social Economy of the Warsaw School of Economics, with particular emphasis on the memoirs of the unemployed. The article has three parts: (1) a short introduction to memoir-related research in Poland, (2) a description of the memoir competitions organized by the Institute of Social Economy, and (3) a more detailed discussion of competitions involving the memoirs of the unemployed in the 1930s, at the turn of the century, and in 2017. One of the main conclusions the authors draw is that biographical materials, despite their great potential, are relatively rarely used by social researchers.

The article outlines the causes, course and consequences of the protests of people with disabilities and their carers that took place in Poland in 2014 and 2018 respectively. Said protests took a form of occupation of the Polish parliament building. This was intended to draw attention to the considerable difficulties people with disabilities face, as well as to advocate for raising social benefits. We also describe the process of people with disabilities gaining subjectivity and the role of non-governmental organisations and various experts, including but not limited to academics. Moreover, the article demonstrates circumstances to be considered with regards to disability activism. We argue that the systemic transformation that Poland underwent in 1989 and the following years pertained chiefly to matters relating to improving the country's economic situation. This led to civic matters being treated as less of a priority. Subsequently, people with disabilities became one of the marginalised groups. Their incomplete emancipation has hindered the proper application of the principles of the CRPD. The article was co-written by persons with disabilities, who draw on their experiences, and their non-disabled colleagues in academia who are actively engaged in supporting disability activism.

The aim of the text is to analyze the changes in household consumption and spending due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. These changes resulted from the necessity to adapt to the existing pandemic restrictions and new forms of the functioning of the economy and of the labor market. The analyzes presented in the text are based on the diary research material (448 diaries) obtained in the „Everyday life in the time of coronavirus” contest. We focus our analyzes on the following three threads: (1) observations and experiences of panic buying and identification of a crisis situation experienced in the first weeks of lockdown; (2) experiencing disrupted routine and the need to change the consumer basket and the way of shopping; (3) changes in the subjectively perceived comfort of consumption in the context of social comparison. We show that the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had the greatest impact on reducing consumption, although they were unevenly distributed, both due to the financial situation of memoir writers and to the particular categories of consumed goods and services. By lowering the level of consumption, the Covid-19 made it more thoughtful and reflexive. At the same time, the pandemic made the housing living space gain new functions, thus converted it into an „Oikos” – a universe of all household activities and a center of consumption practices.

This article contains an analysis of the “ECC effect,” that is, the long-term change produced in Polish cities by participation in the competition for European Capital of Culture 2016, which lasted in Poland from 2007 to 2011. The authors concentrate on four basic subjects: (1) city identities; (2) city images; (3) the influence of new cultural institutions on the socio-cultural fabric of cities; and (4) the development of cultural policies and the Europeanization of Polish cities. Their findings are based on the research project “The ECC Effect: In Search of New Urban Narratives,” which was commissioned by the IMPART Festival Office and conducted in 2016 in 7 of the 11 candidate cities: Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, and Wrocław. The authors claim that the competition for European Capital of Culture indubitably initiated extensive transformation processes in Polish cities. It led to an improvement in their images more openness and internationalization, and to a redefinition of the role of culture in innovative development policies.

Artykuł analizuje zjawiska studentyfikacji i turystyfikacji oraz ich wpływ na społeczno-kulturową przestrzeń miasta. Wnioski dotyczą głównie Krakowa, ale mogą być użyteczne także dla większości dużych polskich miast. Kraków jest dobrym studium przypadku z uwagi na trzy cechy. Po pierwsze, jest największym po stolicy ośrodkiem akademickim; po drugie ,wyrósł na jedno z najważniejszych w świecie centrów sektora BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), co przekłada się na duży popyt na mieszkania na wynajem; po trzecie, przyciąga rocznie miliony turystów. Artykuł wykazuje, że im bardziej postępuje studentyfikacja i turystyfikacja, tym słabsza staje się tożsamość miasta, a kapitał społeczny ulega erozji. Radykalnie obniża się jakość życia, więc coraz częściej mieszkańcy decydują się na wyprowadzkę z miast, przyczyniając się do depopulacji i obumierania centrów. The article analyzes the phenomena of studentification and touristification and their impact on the socio-cultural space of the city. The conclusions refer mainly to Kraków, but may also be useful for the majority of large Polish cities. Kraków is a good case study by reason of three characteristics. First of all, it is the second largest academic center after the capital city; secondly, it has grown into one of the most important BPO sector centers in the world (Business Process Outsourcing), which translates into high demand for rental housing; thirdly, it attracts millions of tourists every year. The article shows that along with the progress of studentification and touristification the identity of the city becomes weaker and its social capital erodes. Life quality is drastically reduced, so more often citizens decide to move out of cities, contributing to the depopulation and dying of centers.

The article discusses the process of Europeanization of Polish cities. This process is analysed from two perspectives: top-down and bottom-up. In the first case the author analyses the urban policy in EU and the way it is implemented to National Urban Policy in Poland. This process is illustrated by three of twelve priority themes initialled in Urban Agenda for UE "Pact of Amsterdam": air quality, inclusion of imigrants and refugees, housing policies. In the second case the author analyses bottom- up processes of Europeanization in Polish cites stimiulated by civic movements.

W artykule przeanalizowano proces tworzenia miejskich ruchów społecznych w Polsce. W pierwszej części autor przedstawił krótki historyczny rys kształtowania się europejskich miejskich ruchów społecznych oraz zmiany strukturalne, jakim są one obecnie poddawane. Drugą część poświęcono specyfice miejskiego aktywizmu w Polsce. Autor przeanalizował procesy, w których ramach rozproszony miejski aktywizm skutkiem wewnętrznej integracji ewaluował w kierunku miejskiego ruchu społecznego, reprezentowanego między innymi przez takie organizacje, jak Kongres Ruchów Miejskich czy koalicja wyborcza Porozumienie Ruchów Miejskich. The article concerns the problem of the processes of the formation and development of Polish urban social movements. In the first part of the article, the author analyses historical background of urban social movements in Europe and structural changes among contemporary social movements. The second part is devoted to the specificity of social activism in Polish cites. The author analyses the transformation processes of dispersed urban social activism into urban social movement, represented by such organization as the Congress of Urban Movements as well as the electoral coalition: the Alliance of Urban Movements.

The text discusses results of a research conducted on behalf of ‘I-Woman’ Foundation (Fundacja Ja Kobieta) on the elderly people loneliness phenomenon. The aim of the research was to determine the scale of said phenomenon and partially of social exclusion of the elderly, factors infl uencing the probability of the problem’s occurrence as well as counter-measures possible to apply on both personal and institutional level. The initial phase of the research consisted of 11 individual in-depth interviews (IDI). The most important part of the project involved quantitative research carried out on a nationwide, random, representative group of a thousand 65 years-old-people. This research was done through CATI interviews. The results were discussed during two focus group interviews (FGI). The aim of the interviews was to check the point of view of potential carers and people fi ghting with elderly people’s loneliness. Almost 20% of the Polish elderly can be considered lonely – they declare that often (10%) or always (7%) feel lonely. Almost half of the surveyed (47%) admitted never feeling lonely. The factors infl uencing the feeling of loneliness include: gender, age, education, marital status, source of income, place of living. Factors that increase the level of loneliness include lack of self-reliance and no possibilities of getting support in dealing with one’sdiffi cult situation. Family and relatives are the key factors in fi ghting with social exclusion. Friends and acquaintances are also important since they are often the only support of an elderly person. Local social policy should create suitable conditions for social integration of the elderly into the local community and limiting architectural barriers is one of the important elements of such a process. The fate of non self-reliant people depends on institutional solutions.