Civil Society and the Professions in Eastern Europe: Social Change and Organizational Innovation in Poland / Edition 1

by S. Wojciech Sokolowski

Overview

Focusing on service-providing organizations established by health and human service professionals in post-Communist Poland, this book adds a new dimension to the sociological study of voluntary organizations. The author investigates the motives and interests of the people who establish these organizations and the connections among organizational forms, the social organizations of production, and the occupational interests of professional service providers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306462504
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	10/31/2000
Series:	Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

What Is to Be Explained and why?.- Professional Aspirations to Class Power.- Professional Innovation and Information Gap.- Organizations and Social Construction of Expert Commodity.- Organizations and Social Processing of Information.- Professional Service and Public Benefit Status.- Toward a Partial Theory of the Origins of Social Proximity Organizations.

Editorial Reviews

Frustrated at the conventional view of eastern Europe as a unique entity new to the world since the demise of socialism, sociologist Sokolowski (Johns Hopkins U.) sees the experience there as an essentially rational response by social actors to their specific social-political environment. He proposes a theoretical model he calls Organizational Uses and Gratifications, which posits that formal organizations and policies serve as tools and resources that different individuals use to accomplish their interests and goals. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

‘ ...This argument is convincing and is based on both quantitative data drawn from a large sample of nonprofit organizations and qualitative evidence from the author's own in-depth interviews with 14 such agencies. The book will be of interest to both Eastern European specialists and organizational sociologists, and it contributes to both fields.'
American Journal of Sociology, 107:2 (September 2001)
'The book is likely to appeal to those working in organizational theory and economic sociology, especially those interested in economic embeddedness and theories of public good. For those interested in the voluntary sector in postcommunist Eastern Europe [uthor pulls together the large amount of highly detailed information from the previous chapters and uses it in his final chapter to reflect on theories of social change, the idea of professional projects, and theories of economic action.'
Contemporary Sociology, 31 (2002)

From the Publisher