The Socialist Consumer and the Socialist Law. A Sense of Entitlement and Duties in the Situation of the Shortage of Consumer Goods − the Everyday Economy

Abstract

The subject matter of the paper is the structure of legal awareness of Poles. Speaking more precisely, it deals with a sense of entitlement and duties in the situation of a total shortage of consumer goods on the market.

The author focuses on the service-recipiant versus service-recipient relation. The data which the author’s studies have gathered along with everyday observations point out that the decisive majority of people, in the case when the service provider fails to fulfil his duties, in no way demand that their entitlements be satisfied. This happens even then when these entitlements are warranted by the existing legal system. One may call such a phenomenon retardation of legal awareness within the sphere of life in question. The author has analyzed some chosen factors which could contribute to this state of affairs, such as the system of law binding in Poland, and the psycho-social situation in the society organized along the totalitarian principles.

The social issue in question concerns the period before 1989, that is the period prior to the democratic changes. It is interesting to see this problem now, when four years have passed since the socio-political breakthrough.