Social Structure in Poland: POLPAN 2003

Description of the 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. Irregular employment and additional jobs
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. Family and household
13. Basic data
14. Government, political parties and power
15. Relationship of the individual and its fellows
16. Physical health/psychological items
17. Religion
18. Raven’s Test

1. Employment: Occupation; number of jobs; work situation; beginning of occupation in current firm (year/month); ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; establishment of the company (year); industry classification of company (NACE); industry classification of company (EKD 1998); industry classification of company (GUS 1998); size of enterprise (employees working in firm); job entry; someone else worked in this position before; job started (year/month); supervisory position; number of subordinates; level of supervising; working hours per week; possibility to leave workplace for 30 minutes; possibility to settle own matters at work; possibility to leave workplace for over an hour; assessment of job security; wish to run own business; wage income per month; type of employment.

2. Self-employment and working independently: Start of self-employment (year/month); self employed farmer or other activities; ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; industry classification of company (NACE); industry classification of company (EKD 1998); industry classification of company (GUS 1998); cultivated agricultural area; non-cultivated agricultural area; contract to sell agricultural products from farm; income per month; ownership (company/farm); business created or transferred; working hours per week; employing family members; number of employed family members; employing non- family members; number of employed non- family members; pressure from competitors; profit against competitors; self-employment second job: work situation; employing non-family members; number of employed non- family members.

3. Irregular employment and additional jobs: First additional job: having supervisor in this job; supervisory position; number of supervisees; ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; job started (year/month); someone worked at that position before; weekly hours of work; earnings per month; respondent has another job; second additional job: supervisory position; number of subordinates; ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale; people; data; things; job started (year/month); someone worked at that position before; weekly hours of work; earnings per month

4. Unemployment and housework: Seeking work unsuccessfully; intention to create own business; job-seeking since 1998; periods of job seeking: start of first to third period of job-seeking (year/month); finish of first to third period of job-seeking (year/month); seeking employment status; receiving unemployment benefits; housework as main activity; housework started (year/month); willingness to change housework for a job.

5. Occupational history: Other occupation since 1998; number of jobs since 1998; occupational history from first to fifth job: type of employment; ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; job started (year/month); someone worked at that position before; respondent worked in the same firm before; weekly hours of work; job terminated (year/month); reason of job termination; another job later; number of occupations since 1998; occupational status before 1998; interruption in work career more than 3 months; number of interruptions; first to fifth interruption in occupational history: reason; starting year; ending year; number of months

6. Chances of success and sources of conflicts: Criteria for achieving success in life: ambition, networks, hard work, political influence, coming from a rich family, good education, luck, inherited ability and talent; sources of conflicts: rich and poor, manual and non-manual workers, manager and supervisees, urban and rural people, believers and nonbelievers, those in power and others, firm owners and employees; reasons for failures in life.

7. Opinions about income: Opinions about high incomes; just tax for income (different income groups); just minimum salary; assessment of income of different occupational groups: medical doctor in 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 hospital, owner of small shop, manager of large enterprise, unskilled worker, cabinet minister, owner of large factory.

8. Opinions about society: Opinions about political and economic changes in Poland; assessment of living conditions (ten years ago/present); assessment of living conditions (five years ago/present); assessment of living conditions (present/ in five years); assessment of living conditions (present/ in ten years); assessment of consequences of changes in society for own life; assessment about functioning of economic system; assessment of distribution of power in society; opinion about democracy.

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

10. Status evaluation and views on social issues: Subjective assessment of social position; subjective assessment of social position in 1993; assessment of achieved success in life; opinion about academic studies, income differences, upper incomes, education for children from poor families, range of political parties, reduction of differences in incomes by the state, job providing through state, environmental protection; opinion about democracy, political decision-making process, political protagonists who do not represent all citizens, relation between minority and majority in politics, necessity of elections, equality before the law, universal suffrage, influence of catholic church, characterizing people as terrorists by politics; opinion about EU entry; participation in referendum concerning EU entry; voting behaviour at the referendum; impact of EU entry on respondents life; opinion about terms of participation in military actions against terrorism; extent of interest in politics.

11. Friends: Total number of close friends; number of close friends known longer than ten years; among close friends: people from school/from workplace/neighbours; relations between close friends; closest friend: sex; age education.

12. Family and household: Marital status of respondent; long-lasting relationship other than marriage (starting year); spouse/partner: working status; type of employment; ISCO 88 Occupational Classification; Polish SKZ occupational classification; socioeconomic status; prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; supervisory position of spouse/partner; number of people in household; household members number one to seven: relationship to respondent, sex, year of birth, employment status, disability, disabled since (year), in need of care; average monthly income of household; average monthly spending on food; spending on food if income increased by half; average monthly spending on cultural items; spending on cultural items if income increased by half; financial problems in last 12 months in spending on: food; 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; receiving social benefits: pension (beginning: year/month); disability benefits (beginning: year/month); subsidy (beginning: year/month); material situation of household in last five years; household equipment: stationary telephone; cell phone; cable/satellite TV; computer/laptop; using a computer; frequency of using a computer; hours per week spend on computer; using the computer at home/at work; using the internet; 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; separate bathroom; change of housing conditions in last 5 years; number of books in apartment/house; household is in the possession of a car; estimated value of the car by insurance company; owning land; size of the land.

13. Basic data: Number of important political events in respondent’s life; most important/second important/ third important political event; age of father; father’s occupation at respondents present age: ISCO 88 occupational classification, Polish SKZ occupational classification; father at respondents present age: socioeconomic status, prestige (Polish scale), prestige (international scale), job complexity: scale, people, data, things; social position; father at respondents age of 14 years: occupation, ISCO 88 Occupational Classification, Polish SKZ occupational classification, socioeconomic status, prestige (Polish scale); prestige (international scale); job complexity: scale, people, data, things; respondent has siblings; oldest sibling: sex, age, education; education of mother; education of father; education of respondent; special field of education; obligatory occupational training in last five years; paid or unpaid occupational training; membership in political organization; participated in elections for Sejm and Senate in 2001; party voted for in elections for Sejm and Senate; respondent would participate in elections if they happened today; party respondent would vote for in elections for Sejm and Senate.

14. Government; political parties; and power: Influence of government on unemployment; changes in unemployment in Voivodship in the last three years; actual percentage of unemployment in Voivodship; percentage of unemployment in Voivodship three years ago; influence of government on corruption; change in corruption in the last 3 years; ability of political parties to decrease unemployment, corruption; corruption inside political parties; parties currently in government; opinion about degree of power of government, parliament, president, foreign capital, Polish capital, political parties, trade unions and the European Union.

15. Relationship of the individual and its fellows: General opinions and statements on the relationship between weak and strong people, role of changes, tendency to think not to succeed, the role of obedience as the most important in children’s education, being proud of only few things, doing things differently from past generation, feeling good about oneself, relying on experts, regarding oneself as useless; questioning accepted ways, giving oneself respect; doing new things, elimination of terrorists, showing always respect to those in authority; punishment for sexual offenders.

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

17. Religion: Belonging to religious community; frequency of attending mass.

18. Raven’s Test: Number of items considered after five minutes; number of minutes of considering test items; item 1 to item 10; total score.