Social consequences of the city-forming-sector liquidation for local industrial communities

The paper studies the negative consequences for the citizens’ social and economic health caused by liquidating the city-forming sectors in the course of the economic restructuring taking place in coal-producing regions. The authors assess the social consequences of structural transformations and social reforms and describe the role which small business plays for people in local communities. The paper also describes the instruments used to study the problem, i.e. the public opinion polls carried out in local communities in monitoring regime. The authors present a technique to study public opinion concerning the assessment of the social and economic policy aimed at the rehabilitation of local communities, and analyze the experience of such sociological polls.