JÓZEF CHAŁASIŃSKI JAKO BADACZ (I DZIAŁACZ) RUCHÓW SPOŁECZNYCH
JÓZEF CHAŁASIŃSKI AS AN EXPLORER (AND ACTIVIST) OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Summary/Abstract: Paradoxically, rich scientific heritage and versatility of sociological interests were responsible for the loss of popularity of Józef Chałasiński among contemporary scholars. Simply put, it is extremely difficult to find a general theme in his work, which could provide his scholarship with a character of a coherent sociological project. To present the meaning of Chałasiński’s sociology in a new light, I suggest we should perceive him as a forerunner of sociology of social movements. On the one hand, I reconstruct his innovative perspective: (a) relational analysis of group identities; (b) analysis of interaction between culture and structure; (c) dynamic and historicist approach to social change. On the other hand, however, I underline that Chałasiński did not realize his research program consistently. As a result, not only did he research social movements, but he also became a part of them; not only did he undermine primordialism, but he also conserved it.

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