Zmienne losy polskiej socjologii na przykładzie jej czołowego przedstawiciela profesora Józefa Chałasińskiego

Abstract

Józef Chałasiński was one of significant organizers of learning in the Polish People’s Republic. He was considered a continuator of sociological thought of Florian Znaniecki. He organized the Łódź Sociological Center and after the end of the Second World War was a co-organizer of Łódź University. However, it was not organizational achievements but critical knowledge about the system of the command of science was a long-lasting output of the outstanding sociologist. J. Chałasiński worked out new research methods. He introduced the diary and autobiographic methods to the sociological research. He was a promoter of competitions for peasant and workers’ diaries. Based on them he worked out 4-volume work „Young generation of peasants” (1938) in which one presented shaping of social movements in the Polish countryside. He was a creator of the term „social promotion”. He studied the issues of education in communism and socialism systems. He was also interested in the North American culture. In the mid-fi fties he openly criticized intervention of the state authorities in the Polish science for which he was then withdrawn from the main course of scientific activity. He became a symbol of fi ght for Polish sociological science development under lack of freedom in scientifi c activity conditions.