Systemic Change as Institutional Change: Universal Challenges and Polish Adaptations

• Published in: Polish sociological review no. 121; pp. 57 - 67
• Main Author: MORAWSKI, WITOLD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Polish Sociological Association 01-01-1998
• Subjects: Adjustment; Capitalism; Constructivism; Democracy; Economic liberalism; Economic systems; Economics; Liberalism; Market economies; Poland; Political revolutions; Postcommunist Societies; Social Change; Social Institutions; Social Problems; Solidarity; World Problems
• ISSN: 1231-1413; 2657-4276

On the assumption that harmonization of the allocative efficiency of market, state redistributionism and the social values of solidarity and social justice is the key to successful systemic transformation, the author analyzes systemic change from the institutional perspective. Thus he is able to interpret the new systemic rules in their interaction with the environment and to interpret change in evolutionary terms. The analytic design has seven components: new rules, their intrinsic domestic sources, the need to adjust structurally to the West, environmental contingencies (values, actors and their methods of operation, public or private space, time and circumstances), the mechanisms of emergence of the new system (via establishment of new institutions, deinstitutionalization, reinstitutionalization etc.), impact of the heritage of the past, and, finally, the effectiveness of the new institutions (the state, the economy and civil society). Both in the analysis of universal challenges and the analysis of Polish problems, the author emphasizes the need to develop adaptive rationality, which he views as a superior, synthetic form of overcoming the dilemmas posed by the systemic transformation.