Maritime sociology – the new challenges
Grupa tematyczna
Numer: G42
Organizacja: Agnieszka Kołodziej-Durnaś (US), Iwona Królikowska (AMW w Gdyni)
Pasmo, godzina:
III 16.09, 14:00-15:30
Miejsce: WYDZIAŁ LINGWISTYKI UW, Sala 1.018
Słowa kluczowe: automation and robotization, gender inequalities, land-sea binary, maritime professions, maritime sociology, migrations, multicultural labour milieu
Sociological reflection on maritime issues has been for years characterised by a certain degree of dispersion; the sociological maritime research was carried out in various areas of social science. Some of the “nautical” studies were and still are to be found in the area of sociology of work, sociology of organization or sociology of occupation. These are all those studies that relate to the category of “people of the sea”. (maritime professions or maritime labour organisation). Other “nautical” analyses are closer to environmental or urban sociology. The numerous studies on the port city should be highlighted here. One of the main challenges then is to establish a field were all these research would be found under one, widely recognised caption.
In Poland the maritime sociology was to some extent institutionalised for at least five decades now thanks to the efforts of Szczecin and Gdansk scholars (e.g. prof.Ludwik Janiszewski). During this half-century, researchers have focused on the maritime occupations and professions, the specificity of working on a ship as a closed (total) institution, the functioning of maritime communities on land, and the families of seafarers and fishermen. Social researchers from a few countries (especially Poland and Germany) make attempts to consolidate the so far collected results into maritime sociology label.
Maritime themes have been introduced to the European Sociological Association conferences (Maritime Sociology Research Stream sessions in Lisbon 2009, Geneva 2011, Turin 2013 and Prague 2015, Manchester 2019 and Barcelona 2021), to the programme of the Polish Sociological Association National Congresses in Szczecin (2013), Gdansk (2016) and Wroclaw (2019), the German Sociological Society Congress in Trier (2014). A maritime sociology session has also appeared at the Nordic Sociological Congress in Reykjavik (2012) or the Gdynia International Conference on Seafarers and Seafaring Careers at the Naval Academy (2018).
Another way of popularisation of maritime sociology approach was a Polish-German idea to start a series of International Studies in Maritime Sociology. It is launched by Brill Publishers edited by Agnieszka Kolodziej-Durnas, Marie Grasmeier and Frank Sowa. The first volume of the series will be an monograph Maritime Spaces and Society edited by the same trio and expected in December 2021.
Having been a half way through solving the first challenge we may safely address other ones. These include incorporating in the classical way of thinking on sea as social space new knowledge on contemporary society (also its part on board): automation and robotization, gender inequalities, multicultural and/or globalised labour milieu, enforced labour at sea, military safety at sea, sustainable development vs expansion of maritime industry, seas and oceans as means to spread capitalist system and modernity project, transcending the land-sea binary.
Nelson Turgo
Regardless of the fact that safety onboard ocean-going merchant ships has greatly improved over the past century, seafaring is still considered as a high-risk occupation compared to shore-based industries. Such dire characterisation, however, does not do justice to the overall general safety of living and working onboard ships nowadays. Considering the contexts in which modern merchant vessels operate – multi-ethnic crewing, commercial pressure, reduced manning, extended social isolation, constantly changing weather conditions, etc., -merchant ships are in fact doing quite well in mitigating the occurrence of maritime accidents. What contributes to the general safety of working onboard merchant ships? To explain this, we look at the role of collective mind and heedful interactions (Weick and Roberts 1993) and how they apply to operations at sea. However, though collective mind and heedful interactions help shape ship management operations, there is something about organisational performance and socialities onboard that betoken further consideration. We need another frame to better understand it. Contextually sutured by issues related to power hierarchy, ethnic mix and work precarity, on top of collective mind and heedful interactions, this article submits that sense of place is at work in the organisation of safety and smooth operations onboard ships. Along these lines, sense of place fills in the gap, allowing for the socialisation of seafarers into the rules and expectations of the workplace for successful operations. It orients them to the dyadic social divide between officers and ratings and nationalities and the space they move around ships which in turn assists them to adapt to and participate in the structured and well-choreographed life onboard. The data which underpins this article were gathered from four merchant vessels and informal conversations with seafarers in four seafarers’ centres in the UK between 2010 and 2019.
Włodzimierz Karol Pessel
The new maritime route linking the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Gdańsk and the Vistula Lagoon, along with the deepening of the waterway through the Lagoon and along the Elbląg River and the modernization of marinas, is planned to conclude by spring 2023 for all the three stages of the project. It is a megaproject, as understood by, e.g. Bent Flyvbjerg, which is intended to significantly alter Poland’s maritime economy and policy. In geographical terms, the cut will bring the Baltic Sea closer to Elbląg by 8 hours saved; the Elbląg port will finally become a real seaport. So far, it was only a seaport on paper, as the route from it to the sea leads through the territorial waters of the Russian Federation, with all the political and organisational conditions that stem with it. This, however, makes one ask the question, can one therefore anticipate that Elbląg, along with the entire subregion around the Vistula Lagoon, will in fact come closer to the sea in the social, economic, and cultural dimensions. The attempt to answer this question will be positioned in a theoretical framework, the poles of which will be Ludwik Janiszewski’s concept of marinisation and Andrzej Piskozub’s concept of “marine Poland”. The former, regardless of its high level of theorisation, is an enthusiastic projection of the society which wants to take the fullest advantage of the stimuli stemming from acquiring a long coastline after 1945. The latter, on the other hand, contains warnings against the mythical relationship towards Polish marinist traditions and the voluntaristic approach to marine economy, i.e. the search for justifications for investment projects in phantom or strictly political foundations.
Iwona Królikowska
Dynamika i zmiany rynku pracy wymagają stałej aktualizacji badań, zatem, choć współcześnie edukacja ustawiczna oraz potrzeba nieustannego rozwoju zawodowego, związane z tempem zmian cywilizacyjnych, głównie w wyniku postępu technologicznego, są powszechnie opisywane w wymiarze indywidualnym, jak i w wymiarze organizacyjnym zauważyć można, że badania te nie obejmują każdego zawodu. Niewiele literatury mówi o sytuacji byłych żołnierzy zawodowych Marynarki Wojennej, o przyczynach opuszczenia przez nich struktur wojska (tzw. „wykruszeniach”) oraz o wkładzie, jaki ich wcześniejsza służba na morzu może wnieść na rynek pracy oraz do rozwoju społeczeństwa. Artykuł wskazuje różne aspekty zagadnienia poruszając zarówno kwestię stereotypowego postrzegania byłych żołnierzy marynarki wojennej przez pracodawców, jak i cechy byłych żołnierzy marynarki wojennej postrzegane pozytywnie przez komercyjny rynek pracy i cenione przez pracodawców. Wskazuje także ścieżkę edukacji ustawicznej podejmowanej przez żołnierzy po odejściu ze służby.
Andrzej Michalak
Rozwój gospodarczy wybrzeża po drugiej wojnie światowej był efektem zmian społeczno-politycznych , które dokonywały się w tym czasie w Polsce. Migracje ludności oraz przemiany demograficzne stanowiły podstawę dla rozwoju szeregu gałęzi przemysłu oraz rolnictwa. Wytworzenie tożsamości kulturowej na Ziemiach Północnych Polski było jednym z największych osiągnięć ukształtowanych zbiorowości terytorialnych na tym obszarze. Cykl monografii ” Biblioteki Słupskiej ” dokumentował to zjawisko zarówno w wymiarze historycznym jak i statystycznym. Referat poświęcony jest przypomnieniu osiągnięć analitycznych z zakresu historii. ekonomii i socjologii dotyczących rozwoju gospodarczego Wybrzeża w latach powojennych.
