Reluctant Socialists, Rural Entrepreneurs

The momentous events taking place in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe have focused attention on urban scenes: workers and their trade unions, Solidarity, figures of the Communist Party, and now members of the non-communist government. Reminding us that Poland is still a predominantly rural nation, this book views these historical changes and their underlying agrarian dimensions from the perspective of the countryside. By combining long-term ethnographic field research on class fractionation and rural society and culture with a corresponding historical analysis of the policies and practices of the Polish state, the author elucidates the limited successes of the Polish development model. She also highlights the failures of the Polish version of socialism, which were due largely to decisions that led the nation state down a distinctively capitalist path to agrarian development. On the basis of her research, Nagengast makes forecasts about the impact of the accelerating development of capitalism on the culture, politics and economy of Poland. This book is intended for anthropologists, sociologists, and scholars interested in Eastern European and socialist studies.