CHILD, FAMILY AND THE STATE IN POLISH WELFARE DEBATE.  THE CASE STUDY IN THE MORAL PANIC PERSPECTIVE  Cover Image

Dziecko, rodzina i państwo w polskiej debacie welfare. Analiza przypadku w perspektywie paniki moralnej.
CHILD, FAMILY AND THE STATE IN POLISH WELFARE DEBATE. THE CASE STUDY IN THE MORAL PANIC PERSPECTIVE

Author(s): Wojciech Woźniak, Magdalena Rek-Woźniak
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Moral panics; family; the state; children’s rights; counteracting family violence

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the analysis of the public discourse in Poland concerning interrelations between children’s and families’ rights and the actions of the state which attempts to ensure compliance with the norms and values defined in its legal system. The theoretical framework of the analysis is provided by the concept of moral panics, which is frequently applied for analysis of interrelations between the state and the other subjects/actors, but it was not yet used in the research on the Polish public discourse. The main thesis of the paper is the assumption that lack of moral panics concerning the children rights, their wellbeing and safety, could result from its low position in the agenda of social problems approached in the public discourse, particularly in comparison to the significance that is attached to the rights of traditionally understood and defined family. The empirical analysis undertaken concerns the public debate from the years 2008 and 2010 about the changes in a law on domestic violence. The hybrid model of moral panics, integrating earlier approaches (processual and attributional models) is applied as the analytical scheme.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 50
  • Page Range: 43-67
  • Page Count: 25
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