Kultura klasy robotniczej w warunkach kryzysu społeczno-gospodarczego. Uwagi teoretyczne
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Date
1988
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Wydział Prawa i Administracji UAM
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The working-class culture in conditions of socio-economic crisis. Theoretical remarks
Abstract
The main problem considered in the article is the influence of the socioeconomic
crisis on the working-class culture. The 1929 - 1933 crisis brought about
a decrease in real incomes of employed workers, a decrease in buying force of
money what in turn resulted in changes in workers' family budgets. Cultural
expenses, expenditure on press, movies, books were either drastically reduced or
eliminated at all. Research on workers family budgets in those years indicates
that expenses on culture belonged to a group of needs covered with the smallest minimal part of income. With respect to the unemployed, various social, philantropic
and charity institutions attempted to create for them some possibilities of
participation in cultural life through establishing clubs, community centers or
libraries. However, those efforts were a limited success, since they were sometimes
regarded by the unemployed as attempts to create a substitute for cultural life,
attempts to create appearances of care.
The Polish socio-economic crisis of the '80 deeply infringed upon the established
rhythm of a worker's life, including the rhythm of his cultural life. The latter
is determined by days-off, holidays and the rhythm of mass-media with television
and its regular programmes in the forefront. The crisis infringes upon those
rhythms in various ways, usually to the detriment of cultural life, which becomes
reduced and incidental. However, the crisis results in a significant deterioration
of material status of workers, making them reduce all expenses. In effect, the
expenses on culture drop to a remote place in the hierarchy of expenditure in
family budgets.
The issue of workers' participation in cultural life includes also other problems
which became evident in recent years and which are subject to analysis
in the last part of the article. To those problems belong: a) a decrease in production
of cultural goods and market shortages of such goods (in such cases
workers have the smallest chance of purchase); b) the sharpening of relations
between groups and the revival of latent conflicts (it brings to light moral problems
of social life); c) the dissemination of exaggerated images of remote and
rich countries where it is easy to find good jobs and pay; d) an increased interest
in the past and frequentidealizations of that past.
Despite its negative influence on cultural life of workers, the crisis acts also
as a stimulus for the workers' own creation. In recent years workers' literary,
theatrical and musical activity, to a smaller extent their fine arts production, have
been considerably intensified. The said creativity reflects contemporary problems
experienced by various workers' communities and therefore it is an important
document of our times.
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Citation
Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 50, 1988, z. 1, s. 241-257