The paper surveys selected standpoints in the Polish humanities that are visibly critical toward neoliberal assumptions and claims of economics. The resources used in the text…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper surveys selected standpoints in the Polish humanities that are visibly critical toward neoliberal assumptions and claims of economics. The resources used in the text are: Andrzej Szahaj’s philosophical postulates and assertions; Tadeusz Kowalik’s view; criticism and postulates of social economics articulated by the quarterly magazine Nowy Obywatel (The New Citizen). The purpose of this paper is to construct a possibly cohesive picture of this type of criticism by indicating important similarities between the approaches mentioned above, its strongest arguments, philosophical premises and political inclinations.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual synthesis and interpretation of theoretical standpoints and its philosophical premises, a comparative analysis of the text/content of the magazine (The New Citizen).
Findings
Each of the three standpoints discussed in the paper proves to be an interesting example of social economics. It is also symptomatic that they share a similar, critical attitude toward the way in which the transformation of the Polish economy from a socialist to a capitalist system had been carried out. The transformation is thereby interpreted as a process that is not accomplished at all from the point of view of the ideals of social justice and integrity.
Practical implications
The popularization of Polish normative views of economics taking into account the problem of social justice, and the possible transformation of the way in which economic problems are publicly understood in Poland.
Originality/value
The discussion of non-standard interpretations of Polish transformation and its effects that undermine and challenge neoliberal ideology in economics.
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Keywords
– The purpose of this paper is to highlight the direction of economic changes affecting the Polish economy after the political transformation of the early 1990s.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the direction of economic changes affecting the Polish economy after the political transformation of the early 1990s.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the author defines the phenomenon of cognitive capitalism. Subsequently, the social and psychological consequences of this form of management and its ideological character are presented. Finally, the effects of the application of cognitive capitalism to the Polish reality are considered and the desirable adjustments of the Polish capitalism are suggested.
Findings
According to the theses of the paper: the negative effects of the Polish economic transformation are largely the result of an uncritical acceptance of the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism, and the fight against the high social costs of the functioning of market economy calls for an adjustment of the Polish economy, which would bring it closer to the Scandinavian model of capitalism.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows the process of economic transformation in Poland from the perspective of the changes taking place in the bosom of the western capitalism, in particular of the Anglo-Saxon type.
Practical implications
The author of the paper suggests a number of possible adjustments to the Polish model of capitalism, in particular calling for the introduction of elements of planning and state intervention into the model, the revival of municipal and cooperative ownership, as well as the introduction of corporatist practices.
Originality/value
The author of the paper criticizes the thesis of the inevitability of the radically liberal transformation of the Polish economy, widely accepted in the literature. Moreover, he sees the relationship between the Polish free-market changes and the processes of “cognitivization” of western capitalism.
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Adam F. Kola and Anna Maria Kola
Poland’s political and economic transformation after 1989 brought the logic of the neoliberal market into the educational system. These changes, however, were far from the real…
Abstract
Purpose
Poland’s political and economic transformation after 1989 brought the logic of the neoliberal market into the educational system. These changes, however, were far from the real liberal free market and instead relied on bureaucratic and technocratic local-level apparatus as well as supranational supports (the EU). Moreover, instead of enhancing post-socialist education to bring them up to the level of the core territories, this process pushed education out to the (semi?)periphery. The purpose of this paper is to present selected examples of alternative non-mainstream models of education.
Design/methodology/approach
Elements analyzed include: non/academic discourses, with particular emphasis on academic texts, media material and public debates concerning the topic in question.
Findings
Two related fields and levels ought to be distinguished: the descriptive level, focused on presenting non-mainstream educational institutions and initiatives, within the socioeconomic context of Poland’s post-socialist transformation; the normative level, with recommendations for policymakers, NGOs and educational activists.
Practical implications
Appreciation of systems parallel and alternative to the neoliberal and technocratic mainstream education system in Poland, with a view to encouraging both policymakers to recognise and develop such initiatives, and members of Polish civil society to create and participate in such forms of education.
Originality/value
Most scholars focus on mainstream education, with a number of exceptions, largely those engaged in the parallel models. This neoliberal model of education is accepted or critically examined, but its technocratic base is not recognised. This text is therefore ground-breaking in that it describes the real mechanisms of the Polish educational system in transition and provides a normative account and recommendations.
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Keywords
The pupose of this paper is to explore the role of criticism in the growth of academic communities and their organizational transformations.
Abstract
Purpose
The pupose of this paper is to explore the role of criticism in the growth of academic communities and their organizational transformations.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a comparison between the Frankfurter School of critical thought with contemporary critical management studies, possible routes for further development of the latter are explored.
Findings
The cognitive turn in behavioural sciences and the bureaucratic professionalization of knowledge‐intensive occupations are a serious threat to the possible development of critical management studies.
Practical implications
By focussing on implications of the Frankfurter School of social thought, critical management studies can establish itself as a more profound and fundamental form of research within social sciences.
Originality/value
The goal is to make the Frankfurter School a salonfähig discourse for managerial establishments.