Volume 32 (2014): Issue 1 (December 2014)
POVERTY AND WEALTH

The purpose of the article is to illustrate the social order preferred by the Polish together with their assessment of the existing social inequalities. On the basis of the empirical material collected among the sample of 1000 respondents, the findings show manners of their definition of equity, perception of discrepancies between the ideal of equity and the existing real status, together with their assessment of the existing differences in the treatment of rich and poor people by various institutions (banks, police, hospitals, courts). The article also describes the causes of social inequalities as indicated by the respondents and their assessment of state policies in reference to them. The article concludes that 25 years after the collapse of “real socialism”, Polish society presents a firmly egalitarian awareness that is in conflict with the current market order.

The article deals with the problem of the material situation of workers between 1945 and 1956. It was particularly difficult in the first months after the end of the war, when “cheap labour’ was the immanent feature of so-called “real socialism”. The problem became even more severe due to the policy of “underconsumption” proclaimed in 1946 by one of the directors of the Central Planning Office and introduced as the basis of financing the investment plan. Keeping a disproportionately high level of accumulation at the expense of consumption was a prominent feature of the system.

The history of old age has only relatively recently become explored as a research topic in Poland. This sketch focuses on the relationship between old age and poverty in People’s Republic of Poland. Old age, however, was a significant object of interest of the PRL authorities in at least two aspects. The first was the social security system, particularly in relation to old age and disability pensions, and the second, social care for the aged.

This article is devoted to poverty and wealth presented in fiction films - both cinema and television - directed in the times of the Polish People’s Republic. Poverty and wealth shown intentionally and unintentionally in these films manifest themselves in many ways. If we want to learn anything about wealth of the society shown in a given movie, a critical approach must be applied

The Polish National General Exhibition (PWK, also known as “Pewuka”) was held in Poznań in 1929. It was meant to be and it did become a showcase of the economic, industrial, social and cultural achievements of the Polish State, newly reborn in 1918, in the aftermath of the Great War. Staging of the Exhibition coincided with the advent of the economic crisis. Preparations for the Exhibition required an enormous amount of work, and considerable investments were needed to build a suitable infrastructure. Poznań became a huge building site, with many labourers coming to the city in search of employment. After 1929 those labourers added to the large group of the unemployed in the aftermath of the great economic crisis. During the 1930s the unemployment and the related problems aggravated the housing crisis in Poznań. The city authorities attempted to resolve this problem by putting the homeless up in the former exhibition grounds recently vacated following the closure of the Polish National General Exhibition. It was only an interim measure. In search of a more permanent solution, the city started to redevelop allotments or community gardens by building purpose-built residential garden huts or sheds.

This text provides the analysis of two texts, written by Robert de Clari and Geoffroy de Villehardouin, two chroniclers at the times of the Fourth Crusade. The analysis discusses their account of food provision and how Crusaders managed to provide for themselves during their journey from Venice to Constantinople in the period between June 1202 and May 1204.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the issues associated with the psychological aspect of possessions. The basic question of our consideration refers to the place which poverty and wealth occupy among human values. In particular, the analysis of this article includes recognition of Milton Rokeach and Shalom H. Schwartz.