Publisher's Synopsis
School-leavers in Poland were affected abruptly when the country became post-communist. Market reforms meant closures and cutbacks in state enterprises. Many of the jobs for which the young people would have been destined simply disappeared. Typical living standards fell by around 30 percent between 1989 and 1992. Meanwhile, new opportunities arose for private enterprise. State provisions for young peopleÆs leisure were cut back. Meanwhile, the full array of Western goods and services began to be marketed. This book explains how it felt to be part of this transformation. The evidence is from detailed research among young people in three Polish regions û Gdansk, Katowice and Suwalki. This book identifies the immediate winners and losers, and compares the costs and benefits of PolandÆs transformation. The research was conducted by a team of British and Polish sociologists as part of the Economic and Social Research CouncilÆs East-West Programme.
