10 - Critical sociology and Soviet-type society

Summary

The Solidarity movement of 1980–81 initiated a decade of social transformation in Poland and Eastern Europe. In this volume, I have presented a sociological account of the movement at three levels: the movement in its conflict with the authorities and the system; the movement in its implications for the systemic theory of Soviet-type society; and the internal constitution of the movement in its gender, but especially its class, alliance between professionals and workers. Proper explanation of each level required some elaboration of the other levels. In this concluding chapter, I begin with a brief summary of the book's main themes in order to demonstrate their mutual dependence. I then consider what theory and research might follow this analysis, and more importantly, how that analysis might be related to the transformations of Soviet-type society yet to come. I follow the summary of the book's main themes with a brief comparison of Solidarity's 1980–81 struggle for civil society with the perestroika of the Soviet Union. I then consider the implications of the Soviet and Polish experience for reformulating the critical sociology of Soviet-type society. In particular, I consider how Marxism, cultural and civil–society theories, and feminist theory might approach the problems raised by this volume. I conclude with an argument for socialist-feminist pragmatism as the most useful approach for developing the critical sociology of Soviet-type society.

Professionals, power and Solidarity in Poland

Solidarity was a recent episode in a long history of conflict between Poles and communism.