Social Structure in Poland: POLPAN 1998

Description of the current state of social structure and its change during the post-communist transformation.

Main topics of the study are:
1. Employment
2. Self-employment and working independently
3. Additional work
4. Unemployment and housework
5. Occupational history
6. Chances of success and sources of conflicts
7. Opinions about income
8. Opinions about society
9. Privatization and the market
10. Status evaluation and views on social issues
11. Friends
12. Religion
13. Family and household
14. Basic data
15. Political parties and elections:
16. Physical health and psychological items

1. Employment: Occupation; employed and unemployed; worked on farm last year; number of jobs; type of employment; Polish SKZ occupational classification (1993); ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; working hours per week; beginning of current job (year and month); same position in new job than before; beginning of current position (year and month); someone else worked in this position before; supervisory position; number of supervisees; level of supervising; position of respondents’ supervisor; possibility to use office phone for private purposes; possibility to leave workplace for 30 minutes; possibility settle own matters at work; possibility to leave workplace for over an hour; employment started at current firm (year and month); date of establishment of the company; industry classification of company; industry classification of company; size of enterprise (employees working in firm); changes in company: organizational structure, production profile, positions in management, work organization, equipment, workforce composition, ownership; assessment of job security; reason for possible job loss; possibility to start own business with someone else; wish to start own business if receiving inheritance (20000 zlotys; 100000 zlotys); amount respondent would devote for establishing firm; average wage income per month (after taxes); average wage income per month (before taxes); type of employment (second job).

2. Self-employment and working independently: Start of self-employment (year and month); previous owner of the business; working hours per week; employing family members; number of employed non-family members; number of non-family members employed in two to three years; type of business; type of service according to the Polish SKZ occupational classification (1993); cultivated agricultural area; non-cultivated agricultural area; contract to sell agricultural products from farm; average income per month; ownership of business; other partners: someone from family, other persons, foreign firm, Polish firm; obstacles effect on managers effectiveness; pressure from competitors; evaluation of profits compared to similar businesses; type of employment; employing non-family members; number of employed non-family members.

3. Additional work: First additional job: having supervisor in this job, supervisory position, number of supervisees, Polish SKZ occupational classification (1993), job started (year and month), someone worked at that position before, weekly hours of work, average income per month, second additional job: income from another job, average income per month, type of employment, job started (year and month), weekly hours of work.

4. Unemployment and housework: Respondent cannot find suitable job; job-seeking since 1993; periods of job seeking: start of first to third period of job-seeking (year and month), finish of first to third period of job-seeking (year and month), reason for stopping job-seeking; housework as main activity; housework started (year and month); willingness to change housework for a job; sources of income: retirement and welfare; type of welfare benefits.

5. Occupational history: Occupation since 1993; number of jobs since 1993; occupational history from first to fifth job: type of employment, Polish SKZ occupational classification, job started (year and month), respondent worked in the same firm before, weekly hours of work, job quitted (year and month), and reason of job termination.

6. Chances of success and sources of conflicts: Criteria for achieving success in life: ambition, networks, hard work, political connections, coming from a rich family, good education, luck, inherited ability and talent; explanation for outcome in life; sources of conflicts: rich and poor, manual and non-manual workers, managers and employees, urban and rural people, believers and nonbelievers, those in power and others, firm owners and employees; evaluation of public offices in last 5 years; explanation for reasons of failures in life.

7. Opinions about income: Opinions about high incomes; just tax for high incomes; just tax for income (different income groups); just minimum salary; Assessment of just income of different occupational groups: people with high school degree, with MA and with PHD; Assessment of income of different occupational groups: medical doctor in state hospital, owner of small shop, manager of large enterprise, unskilled worker, cabinet minister, owner of large factory; Assessment of just income of different occupational groups: medical doctor in state hospital, owner of small shop, manager of large enterprise, unskilled worker, cabinet minister, owner of large factory.

8. Opinions about society: Opinion about relationship between authorities and society; evaluation of current government; opinion about socialist system; evaluation of political changes: 1989-1993, 1993-1997 and after 1997; assessment of living conditions (ten years ago/present); assessment of living conditions (five years ago and present); assessment of living conditions (present and in five years); assessment of living conditions (present and in ten years); assessment of consequences of changes in society for own life; changes helped to fulfil plans; changes precluded respondent to fulfil plans; assessment about functioning of current economic system; preference for democracy; general assessment of changes in life.

9. Privatization and the market: Opinion about privatization of state enterprises/restrictions on privatization; opinion about restrictions on privatization for: people without experience running a business, foreign capital, old nomenklatura, present political elite; market price vs. state determined prices for basic food products and for electricity.

10. Status evaluation and views on social issues: Subjective assessment of social position; social position placement criteria one to five; social position placement criteria used; social position on a ten point scale ten years ago; general opinions and statements about additional payment and responsibility at work/studying and earning money after studying/income differences in society, role of women in politics, legal limit on highest income, public aid for children of poor families, range of political parties, reduction of differences in incomes by the state, job providing by the state, opinion about democracy, relation between minority and majority in politics, obeying law opposed by majority, peoples knowledge about politics, mutual concessions, former communists in administrative positions, TV program offended by majority, political protagonists who do not represent all citizens, relation between minority and majority in politics, necessity of elections, political protagonists only representing their voters, equality before the law, universal suffrage, freedom of opinion; opinion about citizen’s influence on government, becoming rich at the cost of others, politicians do not care about citizens, influence of Catholic Church, people get poorer; opinion about entry into EU; participation in referendum concerning EU entry; continuity of opinion about EU; impact of EU entry on respondents life; interest in politics.

11. Friends: Total number of close friends; number of close friends known longer than ten years; number of friends with similar education; relations between close friends; trust in people.

12. Religion: Member of Catholic Church; frequency of attending mass.

13. Family and household: Marital status of respondent (year married); spouse/partner: employment status, type of employment, Polish SKZ occupational classification, supervisory position, marital status (year changed); number of people in household; number of employed household members; number of currently working household members who did not worked in 1993; household members number one-three: year of birth, sex, relationship to respondent; number of currently unemployed household members who did work in 1993; number of persons who left/joined household; children under 14 years in household; number of unemployed persons; average monthly income of household; average monthly income of respondent; average monthly spending on food; spending on food if income increased by half; average monthly spending on cultural items; financial problems in last 12 months in spending on: food, rent and utilities, cultural items, leisure time, medical care, education; assessment of amount to cover all necessary basic expenditures; assessment of monthly income needed to live comfortably; material situation of household in last five years; household equipment: computer with windows, telephone, cable/satellite TV; possibility to acquire money in the short term (within a week); year started to live in dwelling; dwelling type; ownership of dwelling; number of rooms in dwelling; number of square meters in dwelling; number of people living in dwelling; separate bathroom in dwelling; change of housing conditions in last 5 years; number of books in apartment/house; household is in the possession of car (make); estimated value of the car by insurance company.

14. Basic data: Age of father; father’s occupation at respondents age of 14 years: Polish SKZ occupational classification; father at respondents present age: Polish SKZ occupational classification, social position; respondent completed education; education of respondent; received high school diploma; respondent paid for education; additional occupational training received since 1993; name of school or university; respondent paid for additional training

15. Political parties and elections: Membership in political organization; name of organization one-four; year joined in organisation one-four; voted in parliamentary election 1993/1997; party voted for in 1993/1997; respondent would participate in elections if they happened today; party respondent would vote for in elections for Sejm and Senat.

16. Physical health and psychological items: Self-evaluation of physical healthand psychological mood