• Forced labor - the essence of the phenomenon and hidden mechanisms of enslavement
    Forced labor is a social phenomenon which, due to its unique nature, is difficult to understand, accept and prosecute. Taking into account the unsuccessful attempts to deal with this problem in Poland, as well as similar experiences in other countries, it is necessary to look for an answer to the question why this is so. The answer seems obvious: because forced labor is invisible. This is perhaps because we have a problem understanding the phenomenon itself. I propose a departure from the legal and criminal perspective and look at forced labor as a social phenomenon, in the spirit of the humanistic coefficient, close to the concepts of social pragmatism and symbolic interactionism. The key concept is the meaning given to work in the process of social communication, and not work as such. My considerations focus on the dilemma: if work is a noble phenomenon and in some sense ostentatious, how is it that forced labor is so little visible to people, but also to law enforcement agencies? Perhaps it is burdened with some cultural taboo and is hiding behind a facade of noble toil? In order to identify these mechanisms, I carry out an in-depth analysis of two typical cases of forced labor. This is the first of two articles. In this I made an attempt at a preliminary diagnosis of the problem, in the second I will propose a new definition.
  • Are social benefits distributed effectively from the point of view of the redistributive function? The case of European countries
    The study identifies the loss of the redistributive effect of social benefits as a consequence of ineffective allocation of these transfers. The methodology used is based on the Lorenz curve, with the Gini coefficient as a measure of inequality in the distribution of income. First, it is calculated what would be the increment of the redistributive effect of social benefits if these transfers were allocated in such a way as to minimize income inequality (compared to the actual redistributive effect); the increase in the redistributive effect was decomposed, making it possible to partially isolate the impact of a constant average benefit rate, greater concentration of benefits (in relation to the poorest entities) and the elimination of the so-called the reclassification effect. This new methodological approach is applied to data on 15 European countries that represent different models of welfare states (data from the EU-SILC European Population Survey). According to the obtained results, if current social expenditure were allocated in a bottom-up way that compensates for the gross income of the poorest households, their redistributive effect would be approximately twice as large (taking into account the distribution of equivalent income).
  • Activity of people with disabilities in the labor market in Poland and its growth factors
    In Poland, the economic activity of people with disabilities is significantly lower than the EU average and far from expectations. At the same time, there is a research gap in identifying the factors of growth in economic activity of this group of people in terms of regions. The research problem of the review article is the question: how to increase labor market activity among people with disabilities in Poland? The cognitive goal is to present the current results of research on the professional activity of people with disabilities and the factors shaping it in Poland. The normative goal is to indicate future research directions related to activation of disabled people on the labor market. The basis for the implementation of these goals were secondary sources, primarily the monograph by Paulina Stolarczyk. In the preparation of the review article, the descriptive and comparative methods of literature analysis were used. The result of this work is the assessment of Stolarczyk's new contribution to the existing knowledge on the factors of professional activation of people with disabilities. The article is of a cognitive nature, containing discussion threads, as well as polemical and complementary to the results of Stolarczyk's research. The main achievements of this article concern the importance of the family in the creation and accumulation of personal attributes of social capital as a factor in increasing the professional activation of people with disabilities. The strengths and weaknesses of this capital were identified and the opportunities for its growth through the use of EU funds were presented. Moreover, new directions of research in the area of the discussed problem were proposed.
  • The values of the minimum subsistence and subsistence level in 2021 in Poland and in the spatial system (annual average data)
    The article presents the estimates of the minimum subsistence (ME) and social minimum (MS) in 2021 for the country and in the territorial system (by voivodships and classes). cities). The minimum subsistence level (ME) sets a model method of satisfying the needs at a minimum level below which there is a biological threat to life. The subsistence level (MS) determines the cost of living of households that are starting to be threatened by the sphere of scarcity. At the national level, the minimum subsistence level, compared to 2020, increased from 4.3% to 4.6% (depending on the type of farm), with inflation at 5.1%. The increase in the value of ME was mainly influenced by higher expenses for housing and energy (from 6.2% to 6.6% at the CPI index of 7.4%) and the increase in the prices of food products (from 2.7 to 2.9%), with a similar value of CPI in this group (2.8%). The values of the subsistence level in Poland increased from 5% to 6.1% (depending on the type of household). The increase in the value of MS resulted from an increase in prices in two main groups of expenses: fees for the use of a flat and energy carriers (from 5.9 to 6.1%) and for food (4.2-4.3%).

Polityka Społeczna (Social Policy) - the whole list