The Mobilization That was Not: Explaining the Weak Politicization of the Issue of Unemployment in Poland
Résumé
This chapter contributes to a comparative analysis of the mobilization of the unemployed in various European countries, in which Poland represents a negative case since high unemployment was exceptionally politically not contentious compared to other countries. In the absence of mobilization of the unemployed and in the face of a relatively low level of politicization of the issue of unemployment, we are looking for possible explanations. We highlight three kinds of explanatory factors: discourses that emphasize individual guilt and question the validity of unemployment statistics; policies that either prevent the unemployed from becoming a legitimate social group or compensate them generously in sectors where unions were mobilized in the early years; and finally an ideological context favorable to neoliberal policies to which the ruling elites largely adhered, including to some extent union leaders. As a result, the unemployed were deprived from group consciousness and mobilization capacity. At the same time they tended not to be represented by existing collective actors who appeared legitimate on the public stage, first and foremost unions.