The Rise of the Financial Sector in Poland

The rise of the financial sector – and alteration of its functions in capitalism – has been discussed not only by economists but also by sociologists and political economists. Financialization is “(…) the increasing role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions in the operation of the domestic and international economies” (Epstein 2005: 2). It is not a brand new process in sociology. However its scale and nature become an ever more popular element of the current diagnoses. Its main assumption is that crises of capitalist economies are not anomalies and their scale is dependent on the (lack of) control according to the market laws. The idea that the form of crises and their scale seem to be even more grave and take into account the interdependencies between national economies is becoming paradigmatic in the social sciences. The analysis starts with a review of financialization theories, proposed in political economy and sociology. I then empirically examine the Polish financial sector of the last 15 years with a particular focus on the role of mortgages