Awans społeczny kobiet w czasach PRL. Dynamika struktury i sprawczości
Social upward mobility of women in the People’s Republic of Poland. Dynamics of structure and agency

Summary/Abstract: This article describes the experience of upward social mobility of women in the Polish People’s Republic, in the context of specificity of professional trajectories in communist Poland. The basis for analysis is biographical research, which was conducted among respondents aged 72+ in 2014and 2015. The analysis presents aspects of individual agency as well as macro-structural factors in shaping and transforming women’s careers. In the Polish People’s Republic the de-traditionalisation of professional roles appeared together with the still traditional understanding of a woman’s role in the family. The biographical narratives expose multiple instances when the respondents’ life choices prioritised household and family duties over career or education. The narratives also present a work ethos focused on team spirit and not individual self-realisation. The biographical research also shows some regularities concerning feelings of agency and systemic necessity in the narratives about life. An emphasis on individual necessity, aspirations, and merits is present in the relations about event which the respondents are proud of (e.g. education). Lack of agency, emphasis on structural factors, and coincidences are more visible in narratives about events which may be evaluated as negative and problematic, e.g. membership in the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR).

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