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1

SOCIOLOGICAL VACUUM AND DEMOCRACY

100%

Czesnik M.

Kultura i Społeczeństwo

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2008

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vol. 52

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issue 4

19-50

EN

The main purpose of the article is to seek an answer to the fundamental question whether democracy can function properly in a society affected by a sociological vacuum. The author confronts the by-now classic proposition of Stefan Nowak with the achievements of the theory of democracy. He analyses the currently dominating models and perspectives from the point of view of the characteristics of societies, their structure, the individuals' ownership, and above all the distribution of identity. He devotes a separate discussion to the relation between sociological vacuum and democratization. Theoretical debate shows that sociological vacuum is neither a condition of the democratic system nor an obstacle to its existence. A successful, effectively operating democratic collectivity can exist in a society where group identities are weak or do not exist at all. It must, however, be admitted that in specific circumstances a lack of a vacuum may be acknowledged as a condition that favours democracy, since strong identities of intermediate level create a social capital that is the building material of civic society and democratic political culture. Nevertheless, the main conclusion of the article is the statement that the defects of the democratic system in Poland have other reasons than a sociological vacuum.

2

SOCIAL VACUUM AND DEMOCRACY - EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

100%

Czesnik M.

Studia Socjologiczne

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2008

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issue 2(189)

5 -28

EN

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; The author aims 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.

3

System wartosci spoleczenstwa polskiego

63%

Nowak S.

Studia Socjologiczne

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2011

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issue 1(200)

261-278

EN

The article is devoted to the analysis of value system of Polish society in the 1970s. After establishing that Poles are the 'federation of primary groups united in a national community', the author formulates the sociological vacuum thesis: Poles strongly identify with their family and friends and the next community, they strongly identify with, is nation. In between these two poles the vacuum spreads covering institutions and groups other than family and friends (e.g. professional groups). The author emphasizes frustration as a feature of Polish society, in which axiological standards significantly differ from reality (the examples of the socialist and democratic values support this argument). He contends simultaneously that the possibility of generalizing about value system of Polish society as a whole stems not so much from the lack of internal differentiation in particular clusters of values (such differentiation exists), as from the experience of vast social change that has resulted in the disappearance of previous value formation centers and has not led to the emergence of the new ones.

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SOCIOLOGICAL VACUUM AND DEMOCRACY

SOCIAL VACUUM AND DEMOCRACY - EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

System wartosci spoleczenstwa polskiego