Founders of Rural Sociology in Poland

Abstract

The author depicts the research and main works by eminent Polish scholars, founders of rural sociology. The following professors belong to this group: Franciszek Bujak, Stefan Czarnowski, Jan St. Bystroń, Ludwk Krzywicki, Władysław Grabski, Florian Znaniecki, and Józef Chałasiński.

Franciszek Bujak as a historian of the socio-economical history of Poland would put more significance on the research on the social rural history. He stressed the close relationship between social phenomena and economical phenomena, and initiated the development of the monographic method of field research. Now, Stefan Czarnowski and Jan St. Bystroń as ethnographers and historians of culture collected unique sources and studies on material, social, and religious culture of the rural population. They introduced and carried out the methods of historical and intercultural comparative studies. Ludwik Krzywicki introduced the problems of the theory of social development and the so-called peasant's question into sociology. Władysław Grabski introduced rural sociology as an academic discipline into university syllabus in Poland. Florian Znaniecki and Józef Chałasiński gained merit for their works of global significance (let us mention The Polish Peasant in Europe and America and Young Generation of Peasants). They also worked out the so-called biographic method of sociological research, applied in various versions in contemporary sociology.