We present the forgotten theory of neighborhood services developed by Jules Gazon. Gazon’s concept is known to some humanist economists in Poland, although it has not been included in the broader debate on the shape and meaning of social employment policy in the 21st century. From a European perspective, Jules Gazon has outlined the direction and defined the conditions under which a certain program of activities can be implemented, which could be called a “solidarity model of the social economy”. It is a project for the organization of the social employment system that combines professional activation, employment policy and welfare protection of the state. According to Gazon’s initial assumptions, neither traditional forms of social welfare nor free-market laissezfaire provide an ethically satisfactory solution to the problem of unemployment and the related problems of social exclusion or economic inequalities. The argument is based on the methodical analysis of the documentation of many macroeconomic studies, which – apart from traditional measures of changes in the economic situation – also refer to new conditions caused by the processes of capital flow globalization, technological progress and local conditions of labor markets, i.e. the scope of interventionism or the developed standard of living of citizens of individual countries. The key to a different way of thinking about the labor market is the idea that the subject of this market is not a commodity, as in the case of the goods and services market, but precisely a (holistically understood) human being, whose role cannot be reduced to the operation of a simple market mechanism.
PL
Przedstawiamy zapomnianą teorię usług sąsiedzkich Jules’a. Koncepcja Gazona jest znana niektórym humanistycznym ekonomistom w Polsce, jakkolwiek nie została ona włączona do szerszej debaty nad kształtem i sensem prowadzenia polityki zatrudnienia socjalnego w XXI wieku. Z europejskiej perspektywy Jules Gazon zakreślił kierunek i określił warunki, pod jakimi możliwy jest do realizacji pewien program działań, który można by nazwać „solidarystycznym modelem ekonomii społecznej”. Jest to projekt organizacji systemu zatrudnienia socjalnego, który łączy aktywizację zawodową, politykę zatrudnienia oraz opiekę socjalną i społeczną państwa. Według wyjściowych założeń Gazona ani tradycyjne formy pomocy społecznej, ani wolnorynkowy leseferyzm nie przynoszą zadowalającego etycznie rozwiązania kwestii bezrobocia i związanych z nim problemów wykluczenia społecznego czy nierówności ekonomicznych. Cały wywód oparty jest na metodycznej analizie dokumentacji wielu badań makroekonomicznych, które – poza tradycyjnymi miarami zmian w koniunkturze gospodarczej – odnoszą się także do nowych warunków powodowanych przez procesy globalizacji przepływu kapitału, postępu technologicznego oraz lokalnych uwarunkowań rynków pracy, tj. zakresu interwencjonizmu czy wypracowany standard życia obywateli poszczególnych państw. Kluczem do odmiennego sposobu myślenia o rynku pracy jest idea, że podmiotem tego rynku jest nie towar, tak jak w przypadku rynku dóbr i usług, lecz właśnie Człowiek, którego roli nie sposób zredukować do działania prostego mechanizmu rynkowego.
This article expresses the results from a set of analyses that had the following goals: 1) to describe the nature and process of informatization in Poland from 1988 to 2003; 2) to understand the factors that contribute to the digital divide in Poland; and 3) to contribute to the theoretical discourses on social dynamics and modernization. Studying the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Poland is useful for both theoretical and methodological reasons. In 1989 the penetration of digital technology was low, however in 15 years since then, informatization has progressed to the point where it is on par with the rest of Western Europe and North America. This provides a good opportunity for examining the factors associated with the digital divide. Furthermore, as Poland developed intensely over a short period of time, it is likely to demonstrate a pattern similar to those countries which will go through the digital revolution in coming decades.
This article, as a continuation of our previous paper Stability and Change in Household Computer Possession in Poland: Analysis of Structural Determinants, expresses the results from a set of analyses that had the following goals: 1) to describe the nature and process of informatization in Poland from 1988 to 2008; 2) to understand the factors that contribute to the digital divide in Poland; and 3) to contribute to the theoretical discourses on social dynamics and modernization. Studying the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Poland is useful for both theoretical and methodological reasons. In 1988 the penetration of digital technology was low, however in 20 years since then, informatization has progressed to the point where it is on par with the rest of Western Europe and North America. This provides a good opportunity for examining the factors associated with the digital divide. Furthermore, as Poland developed intensely over a short period of time, it is likely to demonstrate a pattern similar to those countries which will go through the digital revolution in coming decades.
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