Lawyering in Transition. Post-Socialist Transformations in Autobiographical Narratives of Polish and Russian Lawyers

Rafael Mrowczynski

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.12.2.08

Authors

Rafael Mrowczynski Leipzig University, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.12.2.08

Keywords:

Post-Socialist Transformation, Legal Professions, Biographic Research, Poland, Russia

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary findings on memories from the period of post-socialist transformation and on related narrative constructs of agency in autobiographical interviews with practicing lawyers from Poland and Russia. The study is based on 25 interviews with individuals born in the late-1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Six different types of narrative accounts about the period of post-socialist transformations are identified and described: (i) trailblazer narratives; (ii) follower narratives; (iii) narratives of volatility; (iv) narratives of continuity; (v) latecomer narratives and (vi) narratives of social decay.

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Author Biography

Rafael Mrowczynski, Leipzig University, Germany

Rafael Mrowczynski, Post-Doctoral Researcher (Habilitand) at the Institute for Cultural Studies of the Leipzig University, Germany. Professional interests: sociology of law, sociology of (legal) professions, post-socialist transformations, qualitative social research (especially narrative analysis and documentary method of interpretation), social structure and inequality, middle class.

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