Michał Wenzel
Teoria Polityki, No. 7/2023, 2023, pp. 167 - 191
https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.23.009.17522The term “rural social movements” is used in different meanings, so a consistent definition is needed to conceptualize political rural social movements. They are a remnant of the agrarian socio-economic structure. The late and incomplete industrial revolution in Central and Eastern Europe and the incomplete collectivization of agriculture in Poland, compared to other countries of the region, preserved some pre-modern forms of mobilization. The aim of this article is to present the concept of rural social movements and to illustrate it with examples: they are the politics of protest, carried out by Samoobrona and Agrounia. Rural social movements are contrasted with both traditional (old) movements and new social movements. They are located on the sidelines of the main socio-political cleavages, and their actors contest the elites en bloc.
* Tekst powstał w ramach prac nad projektem OPUS finansowanym przez NCN. Projekt nr 2021/41/B/HS5/00536 „Od Samoobrony do Agrounii. Wiejskie ruchy społeczne po 1989 roku”, realizowany na Wydziale Nauk Społecznych Uniwersytetu SWPS.