The article discusses the transformation of the oligarchic capitalist system formed after the Soviet Union collapse towards the state-clan capitalism. This process began after the resignation of Boris Yeltsin from the post of the President of the Russian Federation and it continues to the present day. The oligarchs have lost their influence on decisions in the country, and the control of the state authorities has been significantly expanded. This text is a recapitulation of causes and consequences of the events occurring between 2000 and 2012.
Globalisation processes are regarded as some of the most significant phenomena of the present world. According to more optimistic predictions, globalisation processes are responsible for making Marxist social theory and methodological Marxist research tools in the humanities outdated. Globalisation is a progressive, long-term cultural process, consisting of various complex historical factors – mainly economical ones. Cultural and external signs of globalisation are in fact a superstructure consisting of constitutive economical processes. Historical analysis prove, that the beginning of globalisation (in contemporary understanding of this term) should be sought for in colonial conquests having capitalist roots. The example of colonialism clearly shows economic – capitalist origins of national ideologies, such as racism. Ideologies, such as nationalism, seem to be inherent to the globalisation processes. They also seem to be their necessary and integral element. They can manifest themselves in two ways: in the first place: as being affirmative and equivalent, and secondly: on the basis of dialectical contradictions. It seems that globalisation has nothing to do with equality. Moreover, it is an expression of hegemony of anglo-american culture, and dictated by it cultural unification based upon Cocacolonization. Marxist philosophy shaped in face of these processes, based upon postulates of internationalism and international revolution, can be perceived as a social theory only within the context of antiglobalisation and anti-imperialism.
The text is a critical essay about Achille Mbembe’s poshumanistic theory of identity and answers the question of why we should read about postcolonial theory today, adjusting it to local (European) relations. The author proposes a specific kind of reading Mbembe’s essay as a call to create an involved identity. Involved identities are a form of resistance against European and many other authorities.
The paper deals with various economic interpretations of World War I which are often followed by changes in economic theory. It is shown, that most prevailing interpretations are still influenced by Karl Marx and his theories. Then, the sequential shift in economic or social policy and thinking is inevitably influenced by Marxism too. Authors writing in this tradition summarized that the capitalism leads to the monopolist structure of the economy and to the imperialism in economic policy. The war is then result of the struggle for foreign markets and resources. Using the economic theory and clarifying basic definition (for example competition, capitalism, socialism) the paper shows that it is not the "invisible hand" of capitalism what is a cause of war, but the "visible hand" of the state.
Karl Marx’s Capital is critique of the capitalistically organised social relations of reproduction. It recognises economic categories as perverted social categories and asks about the manner in which human social practice manifests itself in the form of inde-pendent economic categories and laws that unfold as if governed by invisible principles. He says, the capitalist relations are beyond human control and he argues that the indi-viduals act under economic compulsion and are controlled by the products of their own labour. His critique says, in the capitalist social relations the individuals act as personi-fication of economic categories. The immense wealth of capitalist society is abstract, it appears in the form of money as more money. In these wealth-relations, time is money, the satisfaction of human needs a mere sideshow. Yet, the economic categories are purely social forms. Critique of political economy is social critique of economic inver-sion, it is about the sheer unrest of live as the hidden misery of economic things.
Ulrich Beck is a famous German sociologist who has examined the concepts of risk society and the second modernity. Both terms were described by Beck as opposite to industrial society and class society. Recently, Dean Curran has attempted to overcome this opposition, and reconcile hermeneutics of classes and the risk society. This article examines the exchange of arguments between Ulrich Beck and Dean Curran and treats this exchange as a pretext to systematically identify those parts of the theory of risk society that cannot be reconciled with class theory. We examine how Marxian and Weberian theories of classes can effectively explain the phenomenon of second modernity.
The purpose of this paper is to offer a conceptualization of leisure that can help us understand what constitutes as leisure and how leisure is attained in a highly regimented context such as elite hockey. Leisure researchers are unable to agree on a definition of leisure that best represents the field, which is perhaps why leisure has lost its significance within contemporary academia. In this paper, a conceptualization is provided that was developed through research on Junior level ice hockey players. Junior level hockey has a highly structured and professionalized regiment but yet, leisure is still attainable for players despite having little control over their involvement. Traditional definitions of leisure do not capture what it means to be in leisure even though theoretically Junior level hockey players are considered to be in serious leisure as amateurs. Thus, this paper can help justify and lets us understand how leisure is attained in Junior level hockey.
Márquez was greatly influenced by his grandmother’s story-telling ability, and was highly indebted to the socio-political history of Latin America, particularly Colombia. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, he wants to reconstruct the lost world of childhood by using magical realism which gives expression to the world-view of a rural people who live in isolation from modern world. By retelling the official history from the perspective of the oppressed, he reveals the fact that history is never factual and impartial but serves the interest of those who write it. Through the banana company massacre and the subsequent hide and seek over the number of dead workers, Márquez exposes the way official history becomes fabricated and distorted by authorities, and fails to provide the original occurrences. He was disgusted with the political violence and civil wars which had distraught people; he was also against capitalism, scientific and technological inventions, and so-called modernization, which are the means through which foreign culture brings corruption and brutality, dominates, exploits and oppresses the natives, and threatens the native culture and identity. By employing magical realism, he was able to recreate Colombian history to protest against the way capitalism dominated the socio-political and economic structure of the region.
The early plays of Ola Rotimi are literary works in which Rotimi places an emphasis on the position of the gods in man’s life. They are plays in which the concept of tragedy is portrayed through the eyes of noble people. They are plays in which Rotimi places an emphasis on the nobility of birth of the protagonists. His later plays, however, put an emphasis on the proletariat. This article examines the Marxist aesthetics and ideology in Ola Rotimi’s If: A Tragedy of the Ruled (1983) and Hopes of the Living Dead (1988). It reflects on Rotimi’s ideological departure into revolutionary drama in his later plays compared to such earlier plays as The Gods Are Not To Blame (1979), Kurunmi (1971) and Ovonranwem Nogbaisi (1974). The study shows that Rotimi stresses the importance of the proletariat in society as reflected in If: A Tragedy of the Ruled (1983) and Hopes of the Living Dead (1988). The paper argues that Rotimi’s acceptance of a new vision of commitment as revealed in the plays is an act of intellectual decolonisation. The paper concludes that Rotimi wrote these particular plays with the conscious aim of not only representing society as it is, but also with the aim of presenting society as it ought to be.
The text attempts to reconstruct the major factors that shaped the modern economic, political and intellectual orders. Based on the assumption that the philosophical and ideological sources of the modern state were derived from social, economic and technological changes, the article explains how these changes were prepared in the modern age and how they influence development in the following 200 years. It also presents the ideas of dependencies between the rise of the modern state and capitalist economy. The conclusion presents the challenges connected with new means of communication, new trends in economy and new social expectations, as well as the role that may be played by academic circles in responding to these.
The paper combines a broad theoretical framework of comparable capitalism with the insights from new economic sociology and new institutional economics to understand and assess mechanisms of China's evolution. During the last three decades China's economic system has undergone a great transformation from communism to some form of state-led capitalism. The evolutionary approach that balanced the interests of economic and political actors led to the gradual introduction of a capitalist institutional framework, but also preserved the immense role of the Communist Party. In the course of the reforms, former direct control over the economy has been replaced by more discretionary measures like corporate governance (which conserved the extensive patronage system), and Party affiliation (which allowed for political penetration of the private sector). Supplying examples of mounting economic waste, I argue that China's present variety of capitalism is hardly an optimal solution, and the further development will strictly depend on state and Party withdrawal from economic contorl.
The article follows the recent developments in the labour markets of Spain and Italy. The two countries in focus represent the 'Mediterranean model' of capitalism, in line with the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach. The impact of the global economic recession has been severe in both countries, which is reflected in high and rising unemployment figures. In the two countries, profound institutional reforms were implemented under pressure of the European Union (EU) prior to the crisis, yet the process has also continued after the onset of the recession. Using the field of labour relations as the example, the author looks at the tensions emerging between the embedded forms of capitalism (national context) and the 'disembedded' forms of capitalism which are imposed from above (EU context).
To nie jest kraj dla pracowników (No country for workers) is the second book about capitalism in Poland by Rafał Woś. The previous one, Dziecięca choroba liberalizmu (Liberalism: An Infantile Disorder) exposed deficits and pathologies of Polish economic life. To nie jest kraj... continues the story about capitalisms sins and mistakes. Rafał Woś describes history of labour and workers worldwide and as well as in Poland regarding past, present and future perspective. The question opening each chapter is also used as a title: What's happened to our work - the World, What's happened with our work - Poland, What's happening with our work - the World, What's happening with our work - Poland and in the end What will be happen with our work - the World, What will be happen with our work - Poland. (fragment of text)
The article aims to answer the question of why social market economy in Ukraine, as well as in number of post-Soviet states, has not met the expectations. It uses social dialogue as a telling example. In 1990s Ukrainian society became subjected to a multidimensional process of forming labour relations. On the one hand, the process was typical for an immature stage of capitalism, and thus could hardly be expected to lead to the emergence of a social market economy, and on the other it reproduced the worst traditions of socialist labour relations, replacing state paternalism with patronclient relationships. Establishing institutional market infrastructure was supported by social partners' organisations and legitimized by the law. A system of market relations has been created but proved incapable of performing functions essential for sustaining standards and values of economic democracy. 'Social partnership' as an ideology of labour relations was substituted by a new form - 'social dialogue'. Social dialogue has been distorted to a simulation of contemporary labour relations. Formalization of social dialogue has become a way for pro-oligarch, social partners' organisations to gradually monopolize the market, with passive acceptance from dependent, poorly organized and unprotected employees.
Celem artykułu jest syntetyczna prezentacja ewolucji poglądów liberalnych i neoliberalnych w ich wymiarze gospodarczym. Podjęta została też próba odpowiedzi na pytanie o relację neoliberalizmu i liberalizmu, zwłaszcza w kontekście dyskusji o dalszym rozwoju ekonomii jako nauki. Wywód oparty jest na założeniu, że zarówno z punktu widzenia przyszłości teorii ekonomii, jak i funkcjonowania i dalszego rozwoju gospodarki rynkowej nasilony w ostatnich latach swoisty sąd nad neoliberalizmem powinien być mniej emocjonalny, a bardziej racjonalny. Krytyka ekonomii neoliberalnej nie oznacza, że nurt ten jest całkowicie błędny lub nienaukowy. Nie można także, krytykując ład gospodarczy oparty na założeniach neoliberalizmu, odrzucać samej idei wolności w sferze gospodarczej, która stanowi istotę liberalizmu. Pytanie o przyszłość liberalizmu w sferze ekonomicznej powinno więc nie tyle brzmieć, czy gospodarka powinna być liberalna, lecz na ile i jak liberalna, aby można było respektować podstawową ideę wolności, ale równocześnie chronić przed jej wykorzystywaniem przez część podmiotów do realizacji interesu własnego kosztem interesów pozostałych uczestników rynku.
EN
The aim of the article is a synthetic presentation of liberal and neoliberal views in their economic dimension. The author also tries to answer the question about the relationship between liberalism and neoliberalism, particularly in the context of the debate about the further development of economics. The reasoning is based on the assumption that, both from the point of view of future development of economic theory and from the point of view of proper functioning and further development of market economy, a kind of suit against neoliberalism, intensified in the last years, should be less emotional and more rational. The criticism of neoliberal economic views does not mean that this current of economic thought is totally false or non-scientific. When criticizing the economic order based on neoliberal premises, one should not reject the idea of economic freedom, which constitutes the essence of liberalism. The question about the future of economic liberalism is not whether or not economy should be liberal, but to what extent and in which way it should be liberal as to assure respecting the basic freedom idea while preventing its misuse by some economic agents trying to realise their individual aims at the cost of the remaining market participants.
RU
Целью статьи является синтетическая презентация эволюции либеральных и неолиберальных взглядов в их экономическом измерении. Автор пытается также ответить на вопрос об отношениях между неолиберализмом и либерализмом, особенно в контексте дискуссии о дальнейшем развитии экономики как науки. Основной вывод можно сформулировать следующим образом: с точки зрения как экономической теории, так и функционирования и дальнейшего развития рыночной экономики, критика неолиберализма должна быть менее эмоциональной, но более рациональной. Критика неолиберальной экономики не означает, что это течение является совершенно ошибочным или ненаучным. Нельзя также критикуя экономический порядок, опирающийся на предпосылки неолиберализма, отбрасывать саму идею свободы в экономической сфере, которая является сутью либерализма. Вопрос относительно будущего либерализма в экономической сфере касается не того, должна ли быть экономика либеральной, а того, насколько и как либеральной; как соблюсти основную идею свободы и одновременно не позволить использовать ее для реализации частью субъектов собственных интересов за счет интересов остальных участников рынка.
Cechą dorobku intelektualnego Edwarda Lipińskiego jest jego interdyscyplinarność: obok wielu pozycji z zakresu historii polskiej myśli ekonomicznej znajdujemy tu prace poświęcone teorii ekonomii i polityce społeczno-gospodarczej Polski. Lipiński jako uważny i zaangażowany ekonomista wielokrotnie krytykował błędy i wypaczenia funkcjonującej gospodarki socjalistycznej i wskazywał kierunki jej naprawy. W tekstach z zakresu polityki społeczno-gospodarczej często porównywał socjalizm i kapitalizm; zdawał sobie sprawę, że obydwa systemy mają swoje wady oraz zalety. Jako zdeklarowany socjalista Lipiński poszukiwał autentycznego modelu socjalizmu, który miałby być zbudowany z idei socjalistycznych i wybranych rozwiązań organizacyjnych sprawdzonych w gospodarce kapitalistycznej, w szczególności dotyczących funkcjonowania przedsiębiorstw. Główne cechy tego proponowanego modelu gospodarki socjalistycznej można odnaleźć w jego pracach z zakresu polityki społeczno-gospodarczej. W artykule przedstawiono ewolucję poglądów Edwarda Lipińskiego na „realny socjalizm” jako ustrój funkcjonujący w Związku Radzieckim, a po II wojnie światowej także w Polsce i innych krajach Europy oraz cechy postulowanego przez niego modelu gospodarki.
EN
The intellectual legacy of Edward Lipiński is characterized by his interdisciplinary interests: apart from numerous publications on the history of Polish economic thought, there are many works on economic theory and social and economic policy in Poland. As an attentive and engaged economist, Lipiński criticized faults and perversions of the existing socialist economy and indicated the directions of its improvement. In his works on socioeconomic policy, he often compared socialism and capitalism, being aware of their virtues and shortcomings. As a dedicated socialist, Lipiński was looking for an authentic model of socialism, which could combine socialist ideas with some organizational solutions tested in the capitalist economy, especially regarding the functioning of enterprises. The main features of the proposed model of socialist economy can be found in his works on socioeconomic policy. The article shows the evolution of Edward Lipiński’s views on the so-called real socialism as a system that functioned in Soviet Union, and after II World War also in Poland and other CEE countries. The author shows the main features of the economic model proposed by Lipiński.
RU
Отличительной чертой интеллектуального наследия Эдварда Липиньского является его междисциплинарный характер: кроме многих позиций из области истории польской эко- номической мысли, мы находим здесь труды, посвященные теории экономики и социаль- но-экономической политике Польши. Липиньски был внимательным и ангажированным экономистом, многократно критиковал ошибки и извращения социалистической экономи- ки и указывал направления их исправления. В текстах, касающихся социально-экономи- ческой политики, он часто сравнивал социализм и капитализм, отдавая себе отчет в том, что обе системы имеют свои достоинства и недостатки. Липиньски был убежденным социалистом и вел поиск такой модели социализма, которая была бы построена на базе социалистических идей и избранных организационных решений, проверенных в капита- листической экономике, особенно касающихся функционирования предприятий. Главные черты этой предлагаемой модели социалистической экономики можно найти в его трудах из области социально-экономической политики. В статье представлена эволюция взгля- дов Эдварда Липиньского на так называемый „реальный социализм”, т.е. строй, функцио- нирующий в Советском Союзе, а после второй мировой войны также в Польше и в других странах Европы, а также черты предлагаемой им модели экономики.
Celem artykułu jest próba określenia wyłaniającego się w Polsce modelu kapitalizmu według opracowanej przez Bruna Amable’a typologii gospodarek kapitalistycznych. Pierwsza część zawiera przegląd literatury przedmiotu związanej z ekonomią instytucjonalną i zróżnicowaniem kapitalizmu. Kluczowym aspektem rozważań teoretycznych jest typologia kapitalizmu zaproponowana przez B. Amable’a. W drugiej części artykułu została scharakteryzowana polska odmiana kapitalizmu, kształtująca się w oparciu o wpływy modelu wolnorynkowego, śródziemnomorskiego i kontynentalnego oraz w ramach modelu rozwoju egzogenicznego.
EN
The aim of the paper is to define the model of capitalism emerging in Poland in the light of the typology of capitalist economies elaborated by Bruno Amable. The first part includes a review of the literature on institutional economics and the diversity of capitalism. The key aspect of theoretical reasoning is the typology of the varieties of capitalism proposed by B. Amable. The second part describes the Polish type of capitalism, which develops under the impact of free market model, Mediterrean and continental type of capitalism and exogenic development model.
RU
Целью статьи является попытка определения возникающей в Польше модели капитализма согласно разработанной Бруно Амаблем типологии капиталистических экономик. Первая часть содержит обзор литературы предмета, связанной с институциональной экономикой и дифференциацией капитализма. Ключевым аспектом теоретических размышлений является типология капитализма, предложенная Б. Амблом. Во второй части статьи характеризуется польская разновидность капитализма, складывающаяся под влиянием модели свободного рынка, средиземноморской и континентальной модели, а также в рамках модели экзогенного развития.
Artykuł porusza zagadnienie wpływu, jaki wywierają globalne nierówności na stabilność społeczeństwa globalnego. Autorka stawia pytanie o przyczyny zaistnienia globalnych nierówności, przedstawia związek między globalizacją a istnieniem globalnych nierówności, a także związki między funkcjonowaniem reguł wolnego rynku a powiększającą się nierównością między Północą a Południem. Autorka sugeruje ponadto pewne rozwiązania problemu.
EN
The article analyses the impact of inequalities on the stability of the global society. The author asks questions concerning the reasons for global inequalities. The link between globalization and global inequalities is presented as well as the connections between the free market rules and the growing gap between the North and the South. Some solutions to the problem are also suggested.
The article is dedicated to the issue of magic and religion in the social reality of capitalism. The goal of the article is to present examples proving that capitalism in various places (post-communist Central Europe, San Cristobal in the Mexican state of Chiapas, Colombian department Valle del Cauca, New York) and at various times (from the 1970s to the second decade of the 21st century) was associated with elements of religion and magic through social thinking and practice, and therefore elements of social reality. On the other hand, in the discourse, capitalism is often presented as a part of nature: the existence that acts objectively, like the laws of physics. In the article, this apparent contradiction is presented as a dialectical aspect of the present day, in which the discourse and social reality are complementary.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.