Left and Right: ideological and theoretical meaning, and political practice in Poland after 1989 3502-TABS-7
Just after 1989 in scholarly and public debates dominated the thesis that the analysis in terms of Left-Right ideological orientations and divisions is obviously anachronistic. But after more than 25 years both terms are still present in public sphere and politics with unfaltering intensity, both appear in theoretical analyzes and empirical research. Every year, scholarly publishers present new books about “new radical right”, “populist radical right”, “populist left”, and so on. The seminar will try to answer the question concerning the lasting presence of this spatial metaphor in public sphere, scholarly analysis and self-placement of political actors. The following problems will be addressed: a) the relationship between Left-Right dimension and the structures and values of modernity, b) the theory of political communication which points toward a necessity of media which could perform the function of orientation tools in political sphere, c) the role of Left-Right dimension in explaining voting behavior, d) the Left-Right placement of political parties and parties electorates after 1989 in Poland, e) Left-Right division and the new problems and challenges in the 21st century.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions
Is reflective and critical of the problem of social differentiation and inequalities
Has in-depth knowledge about the types of social ties and mechanisms supporting collective governance
Has in-depth knowledge about cultural diversity and its transformations, cultural identity, and intercultural interaction and communication
Has in-depth knowledge about major international and domestic sociological research pertaining to selected areas of social reality or sub-domains of sociology
Has in-depth knowledge of norms and rules governing social structures and institutions
Has in-depth knowledge of assumptions and claims of selected historical and contemporary sociological theories
Approaches the choice of a particular theoretical perspective in a reflective and critical way
Can identify causes and predict potential effects of past and current social events; can form critical judgments about current and past social events
Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies
Can use theoretical categories and research methods in the description and analysis of social and cultural changes in modern societies, as well as their consequences
Knows how to interpret the role of culture in the life of the individual and society
Can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies
Can argue a thesis using scientific evidence
Is open to various theoretical and methodological perspectives of social research
Bibliography
Norberto Bobbio, Prawica i lewica, Kraków: Znak 1996, r. I, II, IV-VI.
Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, The Left-Right Schema, w: M. Kent Jennings, J.W van Deth (eds.), Continuities in Political Action. A Longitudinal Study of Political Orientations in Three Western Democracies, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1990, 203-234.
Anthony Giddens, Poza lewica i prawicą, Poznań: Zysk i S-ka Wydawnictwo 2001.
Herbert Kitschelt, The Transformation of European Social Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1994, s. 8-39.
Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Party Positions and Voter Orientations, w: Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Dieter Fuchs, Citizens and the State, Oxford, Oxford University Press 1995, s. 183-205.
Lubomir Kopeček (ed.), Trajectories of the Left. Social Democratic and (Ex-) Communist Parties in Contemporary Europe: Between Past and Future, Brno: Democracy and Culture Studies Centre 2005.
Martin Kroh, Measuring Left-Right Political Orientation: The Choice of Response Format, w: Public Opinion Quarterly, no. 2 2007, s. 204-220.
A. Kwiatkowska, M. Cześnik, M. Żerkowska—Białas,, B. Stanley, Ideologiczna treść wymiaru lewica-prawica w Polsce w latach 2012-2015, w: Studia Socjologiczne 4/2016, s.97-129
Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, New Haven: Yale University Press 1999, s. 78-87.
Peter Mair, F. G. Castles, Left-Right Political Scales: Some “Expert” Judgments (1984), in: On Parties, Party Systems and Democracy. Selected Writings of Peter Mair, I. van Biezen (ed.), Colchester: ECPR Press 2014, s. 187-204.
Peter Mair, Orientacje lewicowe i prawicowe, w: Zachowania polityczne t. 1 (red. R. Dalton, H.-D. Klingemann, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN 2010, s. 258-279.
Pippa Norris, Radical Right. Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005, s. 129-148.
János Simon, The Political Left and Right – What It Means in the Post-Communist Countries and Hungary, w: Radosław Markowski, Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński (eds.), Transformative Paths in Central and Eastern Europe, Warszawa: Instytut Nauk Politycznych PAN 2001, s. 167-183.
Tadeusz Szawiel, Podział lewica-prawica w polityce i w szerszym kontekście kulturowym, w: Mirosława Grabowska, Tadeusz Szawiel, Budowanie demokracji. Podziały społeczne, partie polityczne i społeczeństwo obywatelskie w postkomunistycznej Polsce, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN 2003 [2001], s. 217-266.
Tadeusz Szawiel, Podział na lewicę i prawicę w Polsce po 1989roku – jego sens i trwałość, w: Radosław Markowski (red.), System partyjny i zachowania wyborcze. Dekada polskich doświadczeń, Warszawa: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN, Fundacja F. Eberta 2002, s. 178-216.
Tadeusz Szawiel, Sens autoidentyfikacji lewicowo-prawicowych w Polsce w świetle badania IS UW 2012, w: Metoda i znaczenie. Problematyka rozumienia w badaniach sondażowych, M. Grabowska (red.), Warszawa: CBOS 2012.
Hulda Thorisdottir, John T. Jost, Ido Liviatan, Patrick E. Shrout, Psychological Needs and Values Underlying Left-Right Politicl Orientation: Cross-National Evidence from Eastern and Western Europe, w: Public Opinion Quarterly, no. 2 2007, s. 175-203.
Additional information
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