Poverty and Social Exclusion During and After Poland’s Transition to Capitalism Four Generations of Women in a Post-Industrial City Tell Their Life Stories

• Druk: Łódź, 2016
• Autor: Małgorzata Potoczna, Paulina Bunio-Mroczek, Wielisława Warzywoda-Kruszyńska
• Wydawca: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego

The book is about poverty in Poland during the period of system transformation and in the decade that followed, as documented in the life courses of consecutive generations of women living in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the post-industrial city. 69 life histories were collected. The authors analyse the life histories of four generations of women where the oldest are former workers in state-owned factories in which they worked until retirement and who used to be the avant-garde of the women’s working class during the socialist period. Their daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters occurred redundant on the capitalist labour market and lived on social benefits. The book is unique in both Polish and world literature since it goes beyond traditionally considered “feminisation of poverty” in monetary terms. It searches for poverty drivers and maintainers embedded in changes in industrial relations, welfare regime and family structures and relations. It also tells about women’ efforts and capabilities to cope with the disadvantage. The publication will be of interest to a broad audience composed of scholars concerned with poverty, social marginalisation and exclusion, officers in public and non-governmental institutions as well as to students of social work, sociology, pedagogy, psychology, social policy, gender studies and family science.

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  4. Socjologia
• Język wydania: angielski
• ISBN: 978-83-8088-501-1
• ISBN druku: 978-83-8088-500-4
• Liczba stron: 168

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Introduction	9

Chapter 1. The sociology of the life course	21

Chapter 2. Poverty in the biographical experience of women from the oldest generation – ‘grandmothers’	29
1.	Childhood	31
1.1.	Poverty in childhood in the countryside	31
1.1.1.	Children working as servants	34
1.2.	Poverty in childhood in Łódź	36
1.2.1.	Working mothers. Caring for younger siblings	40
1.3.	World War II and the Nazi-German occupation	41
1.3.1.	Forced displacement and labour in Germany	42
1.3.2.	Working in German factories. Taking responsibility for the mother and younger siblings	44
2.	Youth	45
2.1.	Starting work in a factory – a new biographical experience	45
3.	Adulhood	47
3.1.	Getting married	47
3.2.	Reconciling work with maternity and child care	49
3.2.1.	Marriages founded on partner relations	49
3.2.2.	Traditional marriages	50
3.2.3.	Lack of trust in marital relations – alcoholism in the family of procreation	50
3.3.	Financial conditions of the family of procreation	51
3.4.	Events that damage stability – illness and husband’s death	53
4.	Old age	54
4.1.	Living on an old age pension in an extended family	54
4.2. Grandmothers as foster families	56
4.3.	Health problems – lack of money for medical care	57
4.4.	Summing up one’s life – subjective assessment of one’s life in the past and at present	58

Chapter 3. Poverty in the biographical experience of women from the middle generation – ‘mothers’	61
1.	Childhood	63
1.1.	Childhood in poverty – the father’s alcoholism	63
1.2.	Education	65
2.	Adulth	67
2.1.	Marriage – capital at the start	67
2.1.1.	The drinking husband’s violence and aggression	71
2.1.2.	Taking responsibility for the finances and organization of family life	76
2.2.	The breakdown of a marriage	77
2.2.1.	Divorce and its consequences	78
2.3.	Employment	80
2.3.1.	Loss of employment and its consequences	82
2.4.	Health problems and sudden illness as poverty driver and maintainer	87

Chapter 4. Poverty in the biographical experience of women from the young generation – ‘daughters’	91
1.	Childhood	92
1.1.	In the shadow of alcoholism	92
1.2.	At the grandparents’ place	95
1.3. Mother’s divorce. Breaking off relations with the father	96
2.	Adulth	97
2.1.	Early, unplanned motherhood	97
2.2.	Being a mother	99
2.3.	Outside the labour market	100
2.4.	Dependency on family support and social welfare	101

Chapter 5. Poverty in the biographical experience of women from the youngst generation – ‘granddaughters’	103
1.	Childhood	106
1.1.	Good childhood memories	106
1.2. Childhood trauma	107

2. Adolescence	109
2.1. Early disengagement from school – hanging out with those guys	109
2.2. Early pregnancy	110
3. Early adulthood	113
3.1. Single teenage motherhood	113
3.2. On the margins of the labour market	116
3.3. Undignifying housing conditions	117
3.4. Future plans	119
3.5. Women only	121

Chapter 6. Life histories of three families	123
1. The F. family	123
2. The W. family	133
3. The Z.B. family	143

Conclusions	153
References	159
About the authors	167