Who Has the Right to Make a Mistake? On Stigmatization and Guilt in Poland

This article provides an in-depth sociological and political analysis of the mechanisms of exclusion in Poland. Drawing on Glenn Loury's conceptual framework, the author explains the crucial difference between the letter of the law and the social stigmatization that affects minorities. The text confronts constitutional guarantees of equality with the everyday practice of signifying foreignness and the government's new migration strategy of 2024. It highlights the dangers of prioritizing the language of security over integration and empathy, which leads to the creation of regimes of meaning that exclude migrants from the community. The author proposes the development of lasting structures of institutional contact as a viable antidote to systemic injustice and fear of the other, emphasizing that law alone is insufficient to combat deeply rooted social prejudices. This is a call for reflection on how we construct the limits of our empathy.