About us: We conduct research dealing with broadly conceived theoretical issues in sociology and its borderlands. The research includes both reflections on the place of classical and contemporary sociology among other social sciences and the humanities, as well as comparative analyses of notions, concepts, and theories of society and culture.
Formulating theoretical approaches to such social and cultural phenomena as, for example, post-communist societies in Central and Eastern Europe, regional and local models of social change and social order, historical and contemporary transformations of modernity, and the emergence of the “algorithmic condition” is key to our work. All these research areas are related to projects that members of the department conduct.
The department also analyzes the works of eminent representatives of the social sciences and humanities, with a particular focus on their theoretical approaches to society and culture. In this context, it is worth mentioning above all the research dedicated to the work of Zygmunt Bauman, Bronisław Malinowski, Georg Simmel, Max Scheler, as well as members of the Warsaw School of the History of Ideas.
Our interest in social theory stems from a particular vision of theoretical sociology, namely one that sees sociology more as a complex cognitive practice, or as an instrument for the acquisition and accumulation of knowledge about society, rather than as an abstract reflection on concepts, theories and methodologies in sociology.
Examples of recent research projects:
– Joanna Kurczewska (PI), Patriotisms of Polish Politicians – Yesterday and Today. Interpretations – Revisions – New Reconstructions and Constructions
– Andrzej Gniazdowski (PI), Phenomenology of the State. A Critical-Historical Introduction
– Dariusz Brzeziński (PI), Contemporary Dimensions of Nostalgia: Towards a New Theoretical Framework
Currently working members:
– Prof. dr hab. Joanna Kurczewska (Head of the Department)
– Dr hab. Andrzej Gniazdowski, prof. IFiS PAN
– Dr Dariusz Brzeziński, adjunkt