- Jan Kubik, Professor of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK “Chmielewska-Szlajfer’s story of an ‘ordinary people’s public sphere’ emerging throughout Poland is a superb and unusually optimistic intervention in contemporary discussions.” - David Ost, Professor of Political Science,Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA Harnessing a cultural sociological approach to explore transformations in key social spheres in post-1989 Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer illuminates shifts in religiosity, sympathy towards others, and civic activity in post-Communist Poland in the light of the Western influence over elements on Polish life. Reshaping Poland’s Community after Communism focuses on three major cases, previously largely ignored in Polish scholarship: (1) a hugely popular, new faux-baroque Catholic shrine, which illustrates new strategies adopted by the Polish Catholic Church to attract believers; (2) Woodstock Station, a widely-known free charity music festival, demonstrating new practices of sympathy towards strangers; and (3) the emergence of national internet pro-voting campaigns and small-town watchdog websites, which uncover changes in practical uses of civic engagement. In exploring grass-roots, everyday negotiations of religiosity, charity, and civic engagement in contemporary Poland, Chmielewska-Szlajfer demonstrates how a country’s cultural changes can suggest wider, dramatic democratic transformation. . |