Dynamics of Social Structure

This book explores main social and economic phenomena that, across nations, are fundamental to transformations of the social structure: labor market processes, precarity, processes and mechanisms of inequality, and perceptions of attainment and of resource allocation. The idea of dynamic social structure implies that structures are changeable and produce tensions and conflict between people, groups, and institutions. The case of Poland demonstrates that social and economic phenomena related to the labor market remain major stratifying forces. The Polish Panel Survey, POLPAN 1988–2013, is the empirical foundation of this volume. POLPAN is the longest continuously run panel survey in Central and Eastern Europe that focuses on changes in social structure with individuals as the units of observation. The context of Poland’s transformation and the availability of this unique panel survey constitute a great opportunity to study changes in the social structures. Together with "Social Inequality and the Life Course: Poland’s Transformative Years, 1988–2013" (IFiS Publishers, 2016), this volume belongs to the series of books that use POLPAN to provide analyses of, and insights into Polish society. They are available at polpan.org.