Próżnia socjologiczna a demokracja - analizy empiryczne
Sociological Vacuum and Democracy – Empirical Analyses

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses a classical Stefan Nowak’s hypothesis of sociological vacuum. The main objective is to test the hypothesis that sociological vacuum is dysfunctional for democracy; I aim to answer the question whether a democratic system can function properly in a society experiencing sociological vacuum. Analyses show that sociological vacuum is not unique for Poland – societies under scrutiny differ significantly in terms of group identities and their variance. This variance, however, is not related to the quality of democracy; among successful democratic systems there are both countries of large and small sociological vacuum. This implies that democracy can function properly also in countries where group identities are weak. Thus the main conclusion of the article is that deficiencies and imperfections of democracy, also in Poland, are due to other than sociological vacuum causes.

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