Patronage in a Centralized, Socialist System
| Date | 01 October 1983 |
| DOI | 10.1177/019251218300400405 |
| Published date | 01 October 1983 |
| Author | Jacek Tarkowski |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
495
PATRONAGE
IN
A
CENTRALIZED,
SOCIALIST
SYSTEM
The
Case
of
Poland
JACEK
TARKOWSKI
The
patron-client
relationships
in
a
centralized,
socialist
system
are
neither
pathological
deviations
nor
remnants
of
post-capitalist
heritage
or
feudal
mentality.
They
are
structural
elements
of
the
politico-economic
system-a
response
from
the
lower
units
of
the
system
to
straitened
channels
of
interest
articulation
and
aggregation,
severe
scarcity,
and
super-
centralization
of
the
system.
In
extreme
cases
(such
as
Poland
in
the
1970s),
they
become
something
more
than
an
addendum
to
the
inefficient
institutional
system-they
become
a
primary
determinant
of
public
policy
itself.
Analysis
of
various
motivations
that
induce
political
and
economic
leaders
to
assume
the
role
of
patron
leads
to
the
conclusion
that the
concept
of
patron-client
relationships
is
too
narrow,
in
that
it
restricts
the
scope
of
the
concept
to
the
direct
exchange
of favors
(a
direct social
exchange).
If
the
focus
of
research
is
the
operation
of
the
political
and
economic
system,
the
existence
and
the
scope
of
informal
transactions
and
parallel
distributive
process
is
of
foremost
importance,
irrespective
of
the
motives
and
rewards
that
clients
and
patrons
get
from
these
transactions.
The
dramatic
events
that
took
place
during
the
last
two
years
in
Poland
have
shaken
the
political
and
economic
system
and
have
changed
personal
constellations
and
power
configurations
as
well
as
people’s
attitudes
and
modes
of
behavior.
The
process
of
change
is
far
from
finished
and
the
final
shape
of
the
political
and
economic
system
is
still
difficult
to
foresee.
Political
scientists
who
try
to
analyze
political
phenomena
and
processes
in
today’s
Poland
will
come
up
against
numerous
obstacles.
One
of
the
main
difficulties
is
that
undertaking
empirical
research,
especially
in
a
sensitive
domain
such
as
the
patron-
client
relationship,
is
not
feasible
in
present
circumstances.
Changes
are
occurring
so
fast
that
available
data
become
obsolete
quickly.
Any
attempt
to
describe
reality
thus
must
be
based
on
speculations,
guesses,
and
superficial
observations
rather
than
on
tested,
reliable,
empirical
material.
Political
scientists
should
be
concerned
with
present
reality,
especially
if
they
happened
to
witness
such
momentous
changes
as
those
in
Poland
at
the
beginning
of
the
1980s.
However,
for
the
reasons
explained
above,
496
this
essay
is
partially
historical
in
character;
it
analyzes
Polish
patrons
and
clients
in
the
second
half
of
the
1970s.
It
is
historical
because
the
reality
it
describes
has,
to
a
great
extent,
disappeared.
Whatever
the
future
brings,
this
period
is
certainly
a
closed
chapter
in
modern
Polish
history.
On
the
other
hand,
political
analysis
of
that
period
is
still
interesting
and
cognitively
fruitful.
Analysis
of
patron-client
relationships
in
Poland
of
the
1970s
can
be
an
important
contribution
to
understanding
the
causes
of
the
current
Polish
crisis,
the
roots
of
which
are
embedded
in
the
last
decade.
As
will
be
shown
later,
patron-client
relationships
were
a
structural
element
of
the
politico-economic
system
of
the
country,
as
they
are
a
structural
element
of
any
highly
centralized
and
hierarchically
organized
system.
They
constitute
a
structural
element,
and
at
the
same
time
are
in
contradiction
to
the
very
logic
of
the
system;
they
always
bring
frictions
and
disturbances
into
the
system’s
operation.
Widespread
corruption
and
abuses
of
power,
which
invariably
ac-
company
such
relations,
were
important
causes
of
anger
and
frustration
and,
finally,
of
the
summer
explosion
in
1980.
Analysis
covering
the
period
in
which
centralization
of
the
political
and
economic
system
had
reached
its
apogee
can
help
us
to
understand
how
patron-client
relationships
grow
and
operate
in
other
highly
centralized
systems.
In
addition,
the
data
collected
in
the
1970s
are
very
helpful
in
theoretical
considerations
concerning
the
scope
and
the
nature
of
patronage.
I
address
this
problem
in
the
second
part
of
this
essay.
Last,
but
not
least,
one
can
judge
from
superficial
and
haphazard
information
that
patron-client
relationships
are
still
an
important
element
of
the
Polish
political
and
economic
landscape.
The
conditions
that
have
called
them
into
being-narrow
or
nonexistent
channels
of
interest
articulation
and
aggregation,
severe
scarcity,
a
dominant
system
of
distribution
in
kind,
almost
complete
breakdown
of
the
market
mechanisms,
to
mention
only
a
few-still
prevail
in
the
Polish
economy
and
political
system.
THE
SYSTEM
A
socialist
country’s
politico-economic
system
is
assumed
to
have
a
purposeful
and
teleological
character.
The
establishment
of
this
system
has
to
serve
the
realization
of
the
ultimate
goal-the
construction
of
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