Abstract
The introduction discusses the history of sociology in Poland up to 1945. It includes an overview of the country’s situation in the nineteenth century and the difficulties which the institutionalization of sociology encountered in a European society deprived of a national state framework for over a hundred years. The focus is on the decisive period between 1918 and 1939, when the first sociological institutes were established and basic directions in research and theory were set. The author argues that this newborn Polish sociology was marked by strong public commitment. It was striving for universal consequentiality, but frequently failed to achieve this as a result of pauperization and parochialism. The tension between local engagement and international academic excellence is claimed to reemerge at each subsequent stage of the development of sociology in Poland, notwithstanding the political conditions.
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Notes
- 1.
1. There is no consensus about how the words “socialism” and “communism” should be used when describing the history of Poland from 1945 until 1989. Therefore, I propose to refer to Poland as a socialist country, whereas the ruling party was, of course, the Communist Party. For the period before 1989, I usually use expressions like “communist rule,” “under communism,” or “communist times.” For the period after 1989, I usually stick to the term “democracy,” even though the Polish People’s Republic was also a self-proclaimed (people’s) democracy.
- 2.
2. A somewhat older journal should be mentioned, which was a common organ for lawyers, economists and sociologists called Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny (established in 1921; Jan Stanisław Bystroń was instrumental in adding the word “Socjologiczny” to the title in 1924; Wincławski 2001).
- 3.
3. All translations in this book are my own.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank all those who helped me during my work on this book, either by their advice and suggestions, or by their own writing, or both. My thanks also go to all the authors quoted in this book: the interpretation may be mine, but it is based on much thorough research work done by others. I particularly appreciate the patience of Agnieszka Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, Janusz Mucha, Antoni Sułek and Joanna Wawrzyniak, whose answers to my questions saved me from many mistakes. Those which, regrettably, found their way into the text are my own responsibility, and omissions are, of course, a collateral risk in such a short book. Further, my thanks go to Clemens Albrecht, Nina Dethloff and Werner Gephart, directors of the “Law as Culture” Centre in Bonn, who did not object to my dedicating a large part of my time as research professor in this institution to sociology in Poland. To Jarosław Kopeć, Daniel Kontowski and Anna Leyk I am infinitely obliged for part of the desk research done for this book, and to Anna Leyk I am additionally indebted for editing the first version of the manuscript. I also acknowledge the support of Polish National Science Centre (project number 2014/13/B/HS6/03741).
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Bucholc, M. (2016). Introduction. In: Sociology in Poland. Sociology Transformed. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58187-7_1
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