The changing roles of the post-transitional economic elite in Poland

The study characterised evolution of the role of a new economic elite in Poland using the three-elite-generations metaphor: breakthrough elite, transition elite and consolidation elite. Describing this evolution in terms of the neoliberal modernisation paradigm, 'elitist paradigm' and transformation theory is insufficient for a theoretical reconstruction of changes occurring in states which, like Poland, are at the stage of development combining characteristics of post-communist, neoliberal and globalised capitalist societies. Other concepts are also useful, such as globalisation theory, world-systems theory or the varieties of capitalism approach that provide a different conceptual framework for the role of economic elites.