Privatising Capital ─ The Commodification of Poland's Welfare State

This work describes attempts to commodify Poland's welfare state--the infrastructure, services, and employees of the public health system, state schools, pension system, public housing and transportation. Capitalistic opportunities in Poland exist alongside a system built during the Communist era and most citizens partake of both worlds. Chapter One documents the history of public sector growth in capitalistic states. Chapter Two looks at public sector development under Communism. Chapter Three examines the "second transition" period beginning in 1997 and growth of public debt in Poland. Chapter Four relates public capital to sociology. Chapters Six through Eight analyze attempts to commodify health, education and pensions and the contravening social forces. Chapter Nine draws conclusions about the effect of public capital on public opinion and politics. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Gavin Rae is associate professor of Sociology at Kozminski University in Warsaw. His main interest is the post-communist transition and European Union expansion in Central and Eastern Europe with a particular focus upon Poland.