The article features an analysis of the ideas of Yurij Levada, an eminent Russian academic, sociologist dealing both with theory and with practice of sociology, a founder of a research institution inMoscow known as Levada-Centre. Levada gave a special place to culture within sociology and he himself called his project on theoretical sociology an “attempt at culturally justified sociology” (grounded in a perspective orientated to culture). The project was based on structurally complex, culturally conditioned and symbolically indirect social actions. In his opinion, such knowledge of culture required to be looked at retrospectively, which provides for tackling the issue of social system reproduction while enabling to understand contemporary culture at the same time. This way of thinking was a basis for Levada’s analyses of the surrounding social reality, e.g. his analyses of intelligence or the concept of “simple Soviet man”.
The article is devoted above all to the analysis of the concept of conscience in relation to the space of public life (institutional, professional). The author of the article devotes a special place to the concept of conscience in interpretation of Jürgen Habermas and his ethics of discourse. In the first part of the article, the author points to the change it has made in the modern and contemporary sense of conscience in comparison with classical interpretations. Earlier, the power of conscience was associated with the intellect, whereas today’s conscience is associated with emotions, especially with the ability to empathize, especially the subject’s ability to empathize. Some emotions are cognitive and are related to contextual knowledge. In the second part, the author analyses the concept of the development of moral consciousness of Jürgen Habermas. This concept is based on a philosophical interpretation of the conclusions of the psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s experiment. In conclusion, the author writes about of the presence of the “voice” of conscience in the space of public life. Defending the value of discourse on the principles of social life, it can be based on the postulate of Habermas, or the dialogue of people with sensitive consciences.
This essay addresses the question of the ties between various social levels, particularly in connection with research on Polish society at various stages of its post-war history. In reference to the theoretical reflections and research presented by Mikołaj Pawlak in the book Tying Micro and Macro: What Fills Up the Sociological Vacuum in 2018, the author of the article argues for the necessity of careful consideration in formulating research generalities, especially when they refer to terms or metaphors coined earlier, such as the idea of a sociological vacuum proposed in the 1970s by Stefan Nowak.
The article focuses on selected problems which have now appeared and fall under the ideas “industry 4.0” and “society 5.0”, namely on anthropological issues. Changes in the relationships between man and technology based on trust lead to an increase of the role of the technological factor in these relations. Other aspects of the analyzed changes concern the new requirements of the responsibility and changes of human subjectivity and rationality. The future of man appears to be an area of uncertainty related to inter alia the conditions of functioning and living in the order of the post-digital world.
Celem artykułu jest pokazanie zmian użycia metafor „czerwony autobus” i „autobus” w polskiej kulturze popularnej na przestrzeni ostatnich kilkudziesięciu lat. Znaczenie badania leży w powiązaniu ich ze sposobem przedstawiania społeczeństwa polskiego oraz zbiorowym doświadczaniem i wytwarzaniem emocji. Autorzy zastosowali koncepcje teoretyczne i narzędzia analizy dyskursu. Jako materiał badawczy wykorzystali zbiór 20 polskich utworów muzycznych z lat 1952–2014, w których metafora „autobus” pełniła ważną rolę, wykorzystując ją jako domenę źródłową dla obrazowania stanu zbiorowości. W rezultacie syntetycznego zestawienia treści metafory i zbadania jej umieszczenia w tekście oraz bardziej szczegółowej analizy kontekstowej wybranych utworów autorzy wykazali tendencję do ukazywania społeczeństwa jako wspólnoty ludzi obcych, ale jednocześnie bliskich ze względu na podzielanie pozycji relatywnego wykluczenia, braku zbiorowego celu i indywidualnego wpływu, a także doświadczanie różnych emocji negatywnych.
In 1844 Max Stirner published The Ego and Its Own, a book doomed to cause uproar, but which failed to seriously antagonize the authorities. No reservations about its printing were voiced, mainly because it was judged that the book contained ideas so absurd as to pose no threat to the public order. K. Marx and F. Engels took exception and criticized The Ego mercilessly, making fun of Stirner’s theoretical ideas in their German Ideology. The critique is much longer than the book itself and it seems rather puzzling that so much space was devoted to an undeserving piece of work. One cannot help but wonder why that seemingly worthless book was made an object of a lengthy analysis. I try to disguise their motives and show why Marx and Engels felt threatened by the utopian and absurd figure of Stirner’s Ego. Against this background I describe Marx’s ideas on man and society.
In many countries, rapid secularisation exerts an ever growing control over nearly every aspect of social life, driving Christianity away from public life and substitu-ting it with an increasingly militant ideology. Christianity today faces many questions and challenges, from profound shifts in traditional values and new anthropologies to questions on the meaning of life and the place of the Church in pluralistic society. Do the Christians of today have anything to offer in the modern Areopagus of thought? Though in minority during the first few centuries of their history, Christians not only were able to claim their due place in society, but point to their contribution to its well-being and functioning. After the so-called Edict of Milan they tried to influence legislation and imbue it with the values and spirit of the Gospel. Not always was it possible, though. At times the border between the state and the Church were crossed either way. Nevertheless, in order to safeguard the autonomy of the Church in her re-lationship with the state, the former tried to adhere to the wise principle she received from her Founder to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
In reference to Anna Śliz’s book Wielokulturowość: stygmat współczesnego świata? Próba analizy socjologicznej [Multiculturalism: The Stigma of the Modern World? An Attempt at a Sociological Analysis], the subject of this article is multiculturalism as a phenomenon, a political project, and a real kind of existing society (multiculturalism is not the same as interculturalism or transculturalism). In the discourse on multiculturalism, many specific questions arise: the inevitability of the phenomenon and its genesis; the beginnings and bases of multiculturalism as a political project and its challenges; the reality of multicultural societies—from affirmation to contestation. Model discourse over multiculturalism is confronted with a range of remarks, commentaries, and questions about its fundamental significance, for example, about the potential for realizing the idea of multiculturalism in Europe, and whether Australia and Canada are now definitely multicultural societies.
The authoress wishes to discuss the idea of engaging senior citizens into the maintenance and care of historical park and garden complexes. The article illustrates the possible mutual benefits of the cooperation between the caretakers of these complexes and organized groups of senior citizens, who whose participation would be based on a form of voluntary help, through a foundation, or based on monetary compensation. Such a cooperation could lead to an improvement of the condition of historical gardens, in addition to providing beneficial effects to the physical and mental he alth of older people.
The article describes features of Jerzy Topolski’s narrative in economic history. It focuses on four important threads and moments in his research on this field: great manor property, estimation of national income in the history of Poland, the birth of capitalism in Europe, social dependencies in the manor economy system.
Culture, Literature, Society. Interdisciplinary Character versus Methodology of the Contemporary Theological Research
Summary
Culture, literature and social life are the "living space" of the contemporary man. They can also be "theological loci" (loci theologici), i.e. loci, in which faith can be born, is, or/and disappears. Both Theology and Catholic Social Science, using different methods and in different aspects, investigate these processes and attempt that, through faith, everything which composes everyday life, becomes more understandable for contemporary man.
This paper is a reflection on the contemporary methodology of theological and social research in the context of the interdisciplinary nature of science. Thus, it attempts to answer the question how starting from different premises, Theology, through research of culture, specifically of contemporary art and literature, and Catholic Social Science, through research of the moral condition of social life and drawing inspiration from each other, can and should serve the faith of man in particular conditions and challenges of a fast-changing reality.
The first step of both sciences is an attempt of comprehension: who it is, to whom the Word is directed. These are a specific seismograph registering of all types of "rockbursts" of times and places. The second step is seeing culture, literature and social life in their prophetic function, which consist in "meeting out justice" to time and place, to consciences and people. The third one is searching for the meeting and merging places of the human word and the Word of God. In every step mentioned above there is a creative interaction between Theology and Catholic Social Science.
Postulated in this article the complementarity of Theology and Catholic Social Science gives hope, that contemporary man is able to elaborate uniform and organic conception of knowledge in order to reach inner unity (cf. Fides et ratio, 85).