Abstract
The author raises the question of the beginnings of Polish rural sociology, the legitimacy of binding its genesis only with the year 1918 and the restitution of independence. In the first part of the article he critically analyzes a quite commonly dominant view, according to which numerous dissertations on the social life of a village appearing 100 or even 200 years earlier cannot be considered sociological (at most sociographic). He puts forward the thesis that in a situation where contemporary rural sociology is grappling with a crisis of identity, and losing the institutional back-up, it is desirable to discuss this controversial issue again. In its second part - performing exegesis of selected studies on the Polish countryside and Polish agriculture from the 18th and 19th centuries - tries to prove that it is difficult to deny them the sociological status, as the knowledge they contained was: methodically acquired (means using research methods and techniques); expressed in a language containing defined terms, referring to theoretical systems; and enabled to answer different types (descriptive, explanatory, prognostic and practical) research questions.
Highlights
In the first part of the article he critically analyzes a quite commonly dominant view, according to which numerous dissertations on the social life of a village appearing 100 or even 200 years earlier cannot be considered sociological
It is not difficult to cite, based on rich literature on the subject, arguments indicating that Polish rural sociology – to its national mutations in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe1 – belongs to the oldest sociological fields of study, and what is more, during its existence, it evolved more intensively than other specific sociologies
In the Polish rural sociology, the historiosophical facts indicated are quite widely recognised as basic periodisational turning points – distinguishing three phases in its development: institutionalisation (1918-1939); urbanisation (1945-1989) and the search for a new paradigm2 – which I perceive as one of its important properties distinguishing
Summary
It is not difficult to cite, based on rich literature on the subject, arguments indicating that Polish rural sociology – to its national mutations in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe (hereinafter CEE)1 – belongs to the oldest sociological fields of study, and what is more, during its existence, it evolved more intensively than other specific sociologies. The statement that it was more practical and socially involved than them, no matter what this concept would mean, should not give raise to controversy. In no other ones – as you might think – we were dealing with development stages so closely determined by the turning points in the twentieth-century history of Poland: regaining independence (1918) and its loss as a result of the outbreak of World War II (1939); the end of the war resulting in the emergence of People’s Poland (1945) and its dismantling as a result of the creation of the Solidarity social movement (1980-1989); and the deliberations of the Round Table (1989), initiating the process of political transformation. In the Polish rural sociology, the historiosophical facts indicated are quite widely recognised as basic periodisational turning points – distinguishing three phases in its development: institutionalisation (1918-1939); urbanisation (1945-1989) and the search for a new paradigm (after 1989)2 – which I perceive as one of its important properties distinguishing
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