STOSUNKI ETNICZNE W BADANIACH INSTYTUTU ŚLĄSKIEGO Z PERSPEKTYWY JEGO 80-LECIA
ETHNIC RELATIONS IN THE STUDIES OF SILESIAN INSTITUTE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ITS EIGHTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a sociological discourse about studies of ethnic and national relations which have been conducted at the Silesian Institute since the establishment of this institution in 1934. The main aim of the discourse is to show the significance of Silesia as an independent subject of study, a peculiar social laboratory, and a source of social factors in the development of science. Seeing as sociologists who discuss the state of research in the scope of ethnic and national problems in Polish sociology rarely reach for the accomplishments of the institute, I began my considerations with presenting classical studies of E. Szramek, J. Chałasiński, P. Rybicki, S. Ossowski and S. Nowakowski, showing the evolution of the problem areas and theoretical frameworks which lay at the foundation of different projects taken up by the Institute. The historical perspective accepted in the article made it possible for me to present the significance of processes of social change for the conceptualization of the ethnic problem area, which differs greatly from that in the time of socialism, transformations in identity, redefinition of it and the cultural universum of Silesians in the direction of demonstrating their relations with Germans, while – among the younger generation – a European identity based on universal values, which is slowly taking shape.

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