Together but separately: An attempt at the process of class diversification among Polish peasantry

The authors try to examine the class diversification hypothesis in the context of recent social and economic changes occurring in the community of family farm owners/operators in Poland. Basing on three consecutive national research conducted respectively in 1994, 1999 and 2007 the processes of diversification have been analyzed. They are observed on the level of changing market positions of farms as well as on the level of class consciousness of the owners/operators, and on the level of strategies preferred by them to defend their interests. The analysis of research results leads to the conclusion that the discrepancy between the group of business-type farms with visible elements of “capitalist consciousness” and the group of rather marginalized ones with lack of “capitalist consciousness” might be observed.