Civil society revisted: lessons from Poland

Civil Society Revisited; Contents; List of Figures and Tables; Preface; Introduction. Rethinking Polish Civil Society; Part I. Civil Society in Contemporary Poland; Chapter 1. Civil Society in Postcommunist Europe; Chapter 2. (Mis)understanding Social Activism in Poland; Chapter 3. Rethinking Civic Privatism in a Postsocialist Context; Chapter 4. Defining In/Defining Out; Part II. (De)legitimization of Civic Activism; Chapter 5. When Parents Become Activists; Chapter 6. On the Disappearing Mother; Chapter 7. Marginalizing Discourses and Activists' Strategies in Collective Identity Formation.

In much social scientific literature, Polish civil society has been portrayed as weak and passive. This volume offers a much-needed corrective, challenging this characterization on both theoretical and empirical grounds and suggesting new ways of conceptualizing civil society to better account for events on the ground as well as global trends such as neoliberalism, migration, and the renewal of nationalist ideologies. Focusing on forms of collective action that researchers have tended to overlook, the studies gathered here show how public discourse legitimizes certain claims and political actions as "true" civil society, while others are too often dismissed. Taken together, they critique a model of civil society that is 'made from above'.