Living and Working in a Social Welfare Home in Poland
A Sociological Study on the Interaction of Personnel with Mentally Handicapped Charges
This book – Living and working in a social welfare home in Poland. A sociological
study on the interaction of personnel with mentally handicapped charges – is an
empirical study carried out in accordance with the methodology of grounded theory.
In it I focus on presenting and reconstructing those aspects of developing an
institutional order which refer directly to the level of interactions, with special
attention devoted to the process of developing interpersonal relationships between the
residents and representatives of personnel in a social welfare home. I present the
principles and rules which, together with institutional rites, customs and the prevailing
system of values functioning in a social welfare home, form the basis for the production,
maintenance and reconstruction of social order in a welfare institution in Poland.
Therefore, the book constitutes a source of information about the Polish system of
social welfare, as well as about the situation of the disabled in Poland, which should
interest those researchers who deal with comparative studies, as well as practitioners
willing to deepen their knowledge about the scope of welfare policy that functions in
Poland.
Preface 11
Introduction 13
Chapter 1. Theoretical basis of research 17
1.1. Social order in the theory of a sociological thought 18
1.2. Social order in normative terms 20
1.3. Social order in interpretative terms 25
1.3.1. Symbolic interactionism and problems of social order 25
1.3.2. Social order in phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology 29
1.3.3. Social and interaction order in the concept of Erving Goffman 32
1.3.4. Institutional embrace of social order in the concept of Peter Berger and Thomas
Luckmann 37
1.4. Social and interaction order – summary 39
Chapter 2. Intellectual disability from the viewpoint of science and social
perception 41
2.1. Mental disability in the scientific discourse 42
2.2. Reasons underlying mental disability and their classifications – interdisciplinary
approach 49
2.3. Mental disability and a mental illness – differences and similarities 52
2.4. Intellectual disability as a social category 55
2.5. The place of an intellectually disabled person in the Polish society 57
2.6. Realization of the subjectivity concept of a mentally handicapped persons in Polish
society 61
Chapter 3. The place of an intellectually disabled person in the Polish system
of social welfare 67
3.1. Policy of Poland towards the intellectually disabled persons – systemic solutions
68
3.2. Institutionalization of care over the mentally disabled persons 73
3.2.1. A social welfare home in the structure of social politics and the system of Polish
law 74
3.2.2. Realization of supportive tasks in the institutional conditions of a social welfare
home in Poland 77
3.3. The place of a mentally disabled person in an institutional system of social welfare
in Poland – summary 81
Chapter 4. Methodology of research 85
4.1. Aim and subject of the research 85
4.2. Characteristics of the field of research 85
4.3. Research techniques 87
4.3.1. Unstructured interview 88
4.3.2. Participant observation 90
4.3.3. Analysis of existing materials 92
4.4. Qualitative methods applied in examination of the environment of the mentally
handicapped 93
4.4.1. Methodology of the grounded theory 95
4.4.2. Ethnographic research 97
4.4.3. Ethnography and the grounded theory – comparison of methods 101
4.5. Justification of the choice of chosen research methods and techniques 104
4.6. Characteristics of research into the environment of mentally handicapped persons
105
4.6.1. Level of perception and linguistic competences of the subjects and the collection
of empirical data 105
4.6.2. Neutrality and the emotional engagement of a researcher-observer 106
4.6.3. Transformation of the role and dynamics of the researcher’s identity 109
4.7. Ethics of the research into intellectual disability – a moral borders of field
exploration 111
Chapter 5. Communication, understanding, agreement – the process of building
an interaction order in the social space of the social welfare home 115
5.1. Analysis of communication functions 115
5.1.1. Sense and meaning of communication in a welfare institution 116
5.1.2. Types and manners of communication between charges and guardians 118
5.1.3. Principles of communication between the personnel and residents 127
5.1.4. Levels of understanding – problems of intentionality and the significance of a
communication 130
5.1.5. Meaning of the act of communicating and coming to an understanding – summary 132
5.2. Constructing an “institutional” reality of a social welfare home 134
5.2.1. Reconstruction of a resident’s biography 134
5.2.2. Reinterpretations of meanings performed on the linguistic and notion level
140
5.2.3. Process of typification and categorization 146
5.2.4. Environmental norms and metanorms 151
5.2.5. Institutional rites and customs 154
5.2.6. The system of values that functions in a social welfare home 157
5.3. The negotiating dimension of interpersonal relationships 161
5.3.1. Partner relationships and the requirements of professionalization of personnel’s
work 161
5.3.2. Perception of the needs of charges and their realization by the staff 164
5.3.3. Adaptation of quasi-family roles versus the task perspective 170
5.4. Communication, understanding, agreement – summary 176
Chapter 6. Elements that (dis)organize the social order in a social welfare
home 179
6.1. Context of uncertainty in interpersonal relationships between the personnel and
charges 179
6.2. Actions and behaviours of residents which destabilize the institutional order
184
6.2.1. Conflict situations and conflicts 184
6.2.2. Aggression and auto-aggression of charges 188
6.3. How residents’ inactions and demands can lead to the destabilization of
institutional order 193
6.3.1. Passivity and withdrawal of residents 193
6.3.2. Demanding attitude on the part of the residents 198
6.4. The emotional context of personnel’s work 202
6.4.1. Desensitizing routinization of a worker 203
6.4.2. Emotional hypersensitivity of a worker 205
6.5. Consequences of emotions in a workplace 207
6.5.1. Mistakes made by personnel as an effect of their emotional engagement 208
6.5.2. Interpersonal consequences of mistakes 209
6.5.3. Emotions in the workplace – stress and destruction of professional identity
213
Chapter 7. Control and subordination versus autonomy and independence
219
7.1. Order of interactions – between autonomy and control 219
7.2. Components of control and autonomy in a social welfare home 232
7.2.1. Time and space 233
7.2.2. Body and corporeality 238
7.2.3. Manipulating and managing expressions 243
7.2.4. The role of authority and close relations 248
7.2.5. Self-reliance, independence and forms of activity of the residents 252
7.3. Control versus autonomy – summary 255
Chapter 8. A social welfare home and its surrounding 259
8.1. Spatial and systemic connections and social interdependencies 259
8.2. The social micro-environment of a social welfare home’s environment 262
8.3. Mutually advantageous relations and spheres of controversy – the social dimension
of the social welfare home’s environment 265
Chapter 9. The process of socialization of a worker and resident 271
9.1. Acquisition of skills of adaptation 271
9.2. Infiltration of the professional environment into the personal lives of employees of
a social welfare home 273
9.3. Breakthrough events in the biography of an employee of a social welfare home
275
9.4. Satisfaction with work as an element of building and maintaining the professional
identity of an employee of a social welfare home 277
9.5. The process of socialization of a worker and resident – differences and
similarities 279
9.5.1. A social welfare home as a place of living and working 279
9.5.1.1. Time-spatial criterion 280
9.5.1.2. Decisiveness criterion 280
9.5.1.3. Life perspective criterion 281
9.5.2. Acquisition of the perspective of a resident by a mentally disabled person
281
9.5.2.1. The process of adopting a role and becoming a member of a welfare institution
282
9.5.2.2. Institutional conditions of mentally disabled persons’ perception of
themselves 284
9.5.2.3. Role of the social and institutional environment in the process of becoming a
resident of a social welfare home 287
9.5.3. Work, profession, and professionalism – the process of becoming an employee of a
social welfare home for mentally handicapped persons 293
Conclusions – summary 303
Works cited 309
Legal acts 325
A list of tables 325
Annex 1. Observations performed in separate social welfare homes 326
Annex 2. Interviews conducted in the social welfare homes 327
331 pages, Paperback
