Działania organizacji społecznych wobec osób biednych i wykluczonych społecznie – odbudowywanie czy tworzenie sieci społecznych

Abstract

Social/non-governmental organizations are one of important social actors operating in the field of poverty and social exclusion and taking active part in the discourse pertaining to these issues. Traditionally they are expected to undertake actions that support and facilitate „getting out of poverty”, including rebuilding social ties. Therefore, the purpose of my paper is to examine how contemporary non-governmental organizations see their own role in the context of constructing definitions of poverty and exclusion, in particular in relation to the task of equipping the beneficiaries of their activities with this important capital of ties and social relations. I analyze the extent to which this role is defined as a particular interface connecting the poor with the society and its networks, opening them up to new challenges and experience, rebuilding the world of belonging (ties), and how much it is perceived as an independent system that offers alternative solutions and rules of the game, creating its own social network, which in consequence can result in rendering the social ties/networks a barrier to the process of inclusion. Niklas Luhmann’s perspective and structure of analytical categories will be helpful in responding to these questions. It will allow me to describe the mechanisms of reconstructing and/or forming social ties within the framework of action of social organizations.