View of Existing Models, EMES Working Papers (No

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Social Policy Program The project “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New Lisków” is implemented within the framework of EQUAL Community Initiative. Editors: Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak Proofreading: Holly Bouma Project coordinator: Danuta Pławecka Research coordinator: Kamila Hernik ISBN: 978-83-89817-68-6 All rights reserved. No part of this report may be printed or reproduced without permission of the publisher or quoting the source. Publisher by: Fundacja Instytut Spraw Publicznych 00-031 Warszawa, ul. Szpitalna 5 lok. 22 tel. (22) 55 64 260; fax: (22) 55 64 262 e-mail: [email protected] www.isp.org.pl Typeset, printed and bound by: Ośrodek Wydawniczo-Poligrafi czny „SIM” 00-669 Warszawa, ul. Emilii Plater 9/11 tel. (22) 629 80 38; faks (22) 629 80 36 e-mail: [email protected] www.owpsim.pl Contents Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy ............................................. 7 Part I Social Economy in Poland: Case Studies Izabella Bukraba-Rylska Social Entrepreneurship in Poland in the 20-Year Period Between the World Wars ......................................................................... 29 Tomasz Kaźmierczak, Paulina Sobiesiak Lisków – A Model of Local Development? ............................................ 63 Joanna Leszczyńska, Agata Dobrowolska “Dolina Strugu” (“Strug Valley”) – A Partnership Laboratory ............... 79 Kamila Hernik, Jacek Kisiel A Green Goose in Rodaki – The Transformation of a Successful Project into Local Community Development ....................................... 107 Kamila Hernik, Paulina Sobiesiak Sewing the World for Children – The “Old School” Social Cooperative in Prostki ........................................................................... 131 Part II Social Economy in Poland: Refl ections Tomasz Kaźmierczak Community in Action – Refl ections and Hypotheses ........................... 157 Marek Rymsza The Second Wave of the Social Economy in Poland and the Concept of Active Social Policy ............................................... 172 Tomasz Kaźmierczak A Model of Community Development Work with Impoverished Rural Communities ............................................................................... 188 About the authors .................................................................................. 206 Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy1 1. The Development of Social Policy in Europe: From Workers’ Compensation to Social Inclusion The problems which affect Polish society – including poverty, unemployment and social marginality – are not unique to Poland. Many European inhabitants, even in Europe’s wealthiest nations, are experiencing these problems. There are differences between countries, but these differences pertain to scale and intensity rather than to the nature of situations. Thus, the differences are based on quantity, not quality. Social exclusion, which is widely understood as a combination of the above- mentioned problems, is a fundamental social issue (alongside the aging of the welfare society) facing Europe today. There are multiple and varied sources of social exclusion of entire groups and regions. The current globalisation of the economy – an economy that seems to be losing its basic servile mission – is one of the conditions making this phenomenon possible. Rational management 1 The following text introduces the main topics of this volume, which is composed of translations of articles that were written (in Polish) for the project entitled “Toward a Polish Model of the Social Economy – Building a New Lisków”. In the following text we have included translated excerpts of our introductions to volumes from which we selected articles: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza, Introduction, in: T. Kaźmierczak, M. Rymsza (eds.), Kapitał społeczny. Ekonomia społeczna, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2007, pp. 9-14; T. Kaźmierczak, W stronę nowego Liskowa. Inspiracje, konteksty i cele projektu studyjno-badawczego, in: T. Kaźmierczak (ed.), W poszukiwaniu strategii pobudzania oddolnego rozwoju wiejskich społeczności, Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw 2008, pp. 215-228. These excerpts are not in quotation marks because they have been re- worded appropriately for the purposes of the following article. 8 Marek Rymsza, Tomasz Kaźmierczak evaluated in strictly economic terms often produces results that are counter-productive from the perspective of social needs and expectations. Homo oeconomicus is a construct. In reality, a human being is not only the producer or the consumer, the employee or the employer. Human economic activities are rarely one-dimensional. Economic theory itself is increasingly taking this into consideration. Contemporary economists who are interested in accurately describing people’s market activities – through the language of economics – are using concepts from social psychology and sociology2. Interdisciplinary studies and theories are appearing, such as economic sociology. The economic theory of classical liberalism is simultaneously developing the concept of market failure and its side effects. The concept of market failure allows us to determine the conditions surrounding “market successes”. In other words, we can describe the conditions and space in which market mechanisms do not bring effective solutions. Side effects (which are usually negative) logically appear alongside management. They are rarely considered in calculations made by enterprises. Environmental pollution is an example of the most commonly understood side-effects of “rational management”. It is impossible to ignore the fact that one of the side-effects of market economic forces, which we have been observing for some time but which has only recently been recognised as a social problem, is the exclusion from the labour market of people who do not fi t into the equation of generating profi t, accumulating capital and consumption patterns. Currently, Europe is searching for solutions to the issue of social exclusion. In fact, there is no choice in the matter. At the turn of the 20th century, when the issue of workers’ rights appeared as a result of hastening industrialisation, the concept of a welfare state was created. This concept was developed through several decades of thought, which referred back to the Great Depression at the end of the 1920s. One could say that the issue of workers’ rights produced a national social policy in Western Europe regarding the market economy. This social policy linked the legitimisation of market mechanisms with the principle of social solidarity. The welfare state – precisely in the name of social solidarity – overcame traditional divisions in society. It guaranteed all citizens their basic needs and standards of living. However, it turned out that the welfare state was not capable of resolving all social problems or preventing new divisions in the labour market and social structure. 2 See: R. Frydman, M. D. Goldberg, Imperfect knowledge economics: exchange rate and risk, Princeton University Press, Princeton 2007. Toward a Polish Model of Social Economy 9 The problem was not only in the scale of differing living standards, but also in a more basic diversifi cation regarding citizens’ participation in the public sphere and activity in the labour market. In other words, the welfare state did not achieve a level of cohesion that would help resolve newly arising social problems. This occurred in part because the competencies of the state increased alongside the development of the concept of the welfare state, thus undercutting the activity of citizens. Meanwhile, the number of citizens who were marginalised increased. That is why at the turn of the 21st century the evolution of social policy in Europe is turning toward the idea of social cohesion, which can be considered an updated version of solidarity and was constructed in direct response to the problem of social exclusion3. Social cohesion implies a thorough reconstruction (but not a deconstruction) of Europe’s welfare states, or in other words – as some prefer to say – the European social model. In the European Union, in the broadly understood social sphere, the core of the social cohesion policy is “active social policy”4. Programmes that are organised in the framework of “active social policy” are designed to stimulate benefi ciaries, provide specifi ed goods and services, and increase the level of participation in social life and economic exchange. Undoubtedly, one of the fundamental measures of social cohesion is the strength and character of local social ties. At the turn of the 20th century, during the time of rapid industrialisation, social policy was searching for compensation programmes, improving the working conditions and creating workers’ communities within the workplace. One of the effects was social security system5. Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, in the era of globalisation, social policy is rediscovering the concept of local communities. Contemporary social policy is in large part decentralised and thus based on the principle of state subsidiarity that is oriented toward strengthening social cohesion “at the bottom level”. Thus, a local community is both a target and creator of solutions. A well-organised community can provide its members – and also those who have been excluded from the labour market for a long time – with a unique chance to participate in economic activity. This kind of 3 See: M. Rymsza, Aktywna polityka społeczna

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