Harnessing a cultural sociological approach to explore transformations in key social spheres in post-1989 Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer illuminates shifts in religiosity, sympathy towards others, and civic activity in post-Communist Poland in the light of Western influence over elements of Polish life.
Reshaping Polands Community after Communism focuses on three major cases, largely ignored in Polish scholarship: (1) a hugely popular, faux-baroque Catholic shrine, which illustrates new strategies adopted by the Polish Catholic Church to attract believers; (2) Woodstock Station, a widely known free charity music festival, demonstrating new practices of sympathy towards strangers; and (3) the emergence of national internet pro-voting campaigns and small-town watchdog websites, which uncover changes in practical uses of civic engagement.
In exploring grass-roots, everyday negotiations of religiosity, charity, and civic engagement in contemporary Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer demonstrates how a countrys cultural changes can suggest wider, dramatic democratic transformation.
1. Introduction
2. Sanctuary in LicheD: practices and aspirations of the Polish church community
3. Woodstock Station summer music festival: practices of responsibility
4. National internet pro-voting campaigns and local watchdog websites: practices of civil society through the internet
5. Conclusion: ordinary celebrations, or interpreting the new Polish social imaginary
Helena Chmielewska-Szlajfer is Assistant Professor at Kozminski University, Poland.
The lÈ
![Reshaping Polands Community after Communism Ordinary Celebrations [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/4/9/6/2_1372103.jpg)