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Employment structures, employee attitudes and workplace resistance in neoliberal Poland

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  • Piotr Å»uk

Abstract

During the past quarter century of neoliberal social, economic and political upheaval in Poland, the structure of workplaces has changed, and so have changes in worker attitudes to workplace and social solidarity. This article explores the links between changes to organisational and employment structures and shifts in worker attitudes, focusing on the implications of attitudinal shifts for the capacity for organised workplace resistance. It documents a loss of collective identity and a growth of individualism and social distrust. The analysis is based on publicly available economic and social statistics and the author’s own qualitative and quantitative research, drawn in part from computer-aided interviews in de-industrialising Lower Silesia. Evidence is provided that the extent and intensity of attitudinal shifts have varied according to changed workplace structures, based on privatisation and organisational size, and especially on the accompanying changes in workplace culture and climate. Increased individualism, based on formal decollectivisation, has been accompanied by attitudinal individualism and distrust of other people and social institutions. As a result, declining capacity for workplace resistance and an increased sense of powerlessness have increased workers’ susceptibility to right-wing propaganda.

Suggested Citation

  • Piotr Å»uk, 2017. "Employment structures, employee attitudes and workplace resistance in neoliberal Poland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(1), pages 91-112, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:28:y:2017:i:1:p:91-112
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304617694798
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Żuk, Piotr & Żuk, Paweł & Pluciński, Przemysław, 2021. "Coal basin in Upper Silesia and energy transition in Poland in the context of pandemic: The socio-political diversity of preferences in energy and environmental policy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Rebecca Mitchell & Yun Shen & Lan Snell, 2022. "The future of work: a systematic literature review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2667-2686, June.
    3. Piotr Żuk & Paweł Żuk, 2021. "Increasing Energy Prices as a Stimulus for Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energies: Ownership Structure, Company Size and Energy Policy in Companies in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Paweł Żuk & Piotr Żuk, 2022. "The precariat pandemic: Exploitation overshadowed by COVID-19 and workers’ strategies in Poland," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(1), pages 200-223, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    De-collectivisation; employment structure; individualism; Poland; right-wing propaganda; social solidarity; trust; union strategy; workplace climate; workplace culture; workplace resistance; workplace size;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition
    • J83 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Workers' Rights
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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