Florian Znaniecki

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Florian Znaniecki

Florian Znaniecki plaque, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
Born (1882-01-15)January 15, 1882
Świątniki, Congress Poland
Died March 23, 1958(1958-03-23) (aged 76)
Illinois, USA
Nationality Polish
Fields Sociology
Institutions Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań), Columbia University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alma mater Jagiellonian University (Kraków)
Known for The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, 1918-1920; humanistic coefficient
Influences William I. Thomas, Georg Simmel, Robert E. Park, Emile Durkheim

Florian Witold Znaniecki (15 January 1882 – 23 March 1958) was a Polish philosopher and sociologist.

He taught and wrote in Poland and the United States. He was the 44th President of the American Sociological Association. He is a major figure in Polish and American sociology, the founder of academic sociology in Poland and of an entire school of thought in sociology.[1]

He gained international fame as the co-author, with William I. Thomas, of The Polish Peasant in Europe and America, 1918-1920, considered the foundation of modern empirical sociology. He also made major contributions to sociological theory.

Life

Florian Znaniecki was born 15 January 1882 in Świątniki, Congress Poland, a state controlled by the Russian Empire.[2] He received early schooling from tutors, and attended secondary schools in Warsaw and Częstochowa.[3] While in secondary school, he was a member of an underground study group and specialized in philosophy.[3]

He began his studies in 1902 at the Imperial University of Warsaw, but was soon expelled after taking part in protests against the Russian administration.[4] Threatened with conscription into the Imperial Russian Army, he chose to emigrate.[4] In that time of his youth he published some poetry (Cheops, 1903),[4][5] a French-language literary magazine Nice Illustree,[3][6] faked his own death, was briefly a member of the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, and worked on a flea market, as a farm laborer and in a traveling circus.[3][6] Later he became a student at University of Geneva (1905-1907), University of Zurich (1907-1908), Sorbonne in Paris (1908-1909), and finally obtained his PhD at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków in 1909.[3][7][8] Next year he published his first academic work, a philosophical work Zagadnienie wartości w filozofii (The Problem of Values in Philosophy), based on his doctoral dissertation.[3][8]

During his studies he worked at several European institutions dealing with Polish immigrants abroad; he would continue this work in the years 1910-1914 at the Society for the Welfare of Immigrants in Warsaw.[7][8] Later Znaniecki met William I. Thomas, who invited him to Chicago in the United States where to aid him in his research on the Polish immigrants in the United States.[9] He came there in 1914, to work with Thomas, leaving Poland on the very eve of World War I.[9] He returned to the newly established Second Polish Republic in 1920, where he became the first Polish chair in sociology at the University in Poznań.[9][10][11] There he organized the Polish Sociological Institute (1921) and began publishing the first Polish sociological journal, The Polish Sociological Review (from 1931).[10][12] He is considered to be the father of sociology in Poland.[1]

Keeping in touch with American sociologists, he lectured at Columbia University in New York in 1932-1934 and during the summer of 1939.[11] This summer ended the Polish stage of his career, since the German invasion on Poland and the start of World War II prevented his return to Poland.[11] He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he taught until his retirement, deciding not to return to the communist People's Republic of Poland.[11]

He was the 44th President of the American Sociological Association (for the year 1954).[13] His Presidential Address, "Basic Problems of Contemporary Sociology," was delivered on September 8, 1954 at the Association's Annual Meeting, and was later published in the American Sociological Review.[14]

He died on March 23, 1958 in the town of Champaign, Illinois, USA.[15]

Family

In 1906 Znaniecki married a fellow Polish student at the University of Geneva, Emilia Szwejkowska.[16] They had a son, poet and writer Juliusz Znaniecki, born in 1908.[16] Emilia died in 1915.[16] Next year, Znaniecki married Eileen Markley (1886-1976).[16] They had one daughter, sociologist Helena Znaniecki Lopata, born in 1925.[16]

Significance

Piotr Szacki notes that major contributions of Znaniecki include: the founding of sociology in Poland; his contributions to empirical sociology; and his contribution to sociological theory.[12] Szacki notes that Znaniecki's work attempted to bridge a number of gaps: between more theoretical approaches and the empirical sociology; between objectivity and subjectivity; between humanistic and naturalistic methodologies and points of views; and between American and European intellectual traditions.[17]

Szacki notes that although theoretical contributions of Znaniecki were overshadowed by the rise of Parson's functionalism, which pushed Znaniecki's contributions to the background,[18] offered the most ambitious sociological theory known to America before Parson.[17]

Themes

Empirical sociology

Znaniecki's contributions to empirical sociology begun after and were influenced by his collaboration with William I. Thomas.[12] The Polish Peasant in Europe and America 1918-1920, a five-tome work we wrote together with William I. Thomas, is considered to be a one of the classics of empirical sociology.[1] It is a study of Polish immigrants and their families based on personal documents.[1] Some of his other major works are Wstęp do socjologii (Introduction to Sociology, 1922), The Method of Sociology (1934), Social Actions (1936), The Social Role of the Man of Knowledge (1940) and Cultural Sciences (1952).[1]

This work represents the most valued contribution of Znaniecki to the field of empirical sociology; most of his other works were focused on theory, with the only other notable exception being Miasto w świadomości jego obywateli (City in the Consciousness of its Citizens, 1931).[19][20]

Sociological theory

Znaniecki's theories form a major part of the action theory.[18] His works also form the backbone of the humanistic sociology.[18] Another term that is used in relation this theories is systematic sociology (socjologia systematyczna).[21] One of the overarching themes in his work was an attempt to create a grand sociological theory, one that would bridge the gap between more theoretical approaches and the empirical sociology.[20]

Humanistic coefficient

Znaniecki coined the term humanistic coefficient (also known as humanistic coefficient): a method of conducting social research that refers to a way of data analysis stressing the importance of the perception of the analyzed experience by their participants.[22] According to the humanistic coefficient, all social facts are created by social actors, and can only be understood from their perspective.[23] Thus the sociologist should study reality by trying to understand how others see the world, not as an independent observer (objectively); in other words the scientist needs to understand the world of the subject.[23][24] While some have criticized this approach as too close to subjectivism, Znaniecki himself saw is as anti-subjectivist; he noted that social facts like cultural systems can exist even if nobody perceives their existence.[25] He was also critical of any value coming from personal, subjective observations, arguing that such observations have value only if they can be objectively described.[26] Thus Znaniecki argued that the difference between natural and social sciences lies not in the difference between objective and subjective experiences, but in the subject of what is being studied: for Znaniecki, natural sciences studied things, and social sciences - cultural values.[25]

Culturalism

Florian Znaniecki characterized the world as caught within two contrary modes of reflection; these were idealism and realism.[27][28] Znaniecki proposed a third way, which he labeled culturalism (pl:Kulturalizm).[1][27][28] Znaniecki's culturalism is one of the ideas that founded modern sociological views of antipositivism and antinaturalism.[23]

Definition of sociology

Znaniecki criticized the widespread definition of sociology as a study of society.[29][30] According to the culturalist perspective, sociology is a study of culture (although it is not the study of culture, as Znaniecki recognized that other social sciences study culture as well).[1][31] His definition of sociology has been described as "a cultural science whose function is to study systems of social interaction based upon patterns of values and norms of behaviour, through the use of the humanistic coefficient", or more simply, "the investigation of organized, interdependent interaction among human beings."[30] The part of the culture that sociology focused on was that of social relation or interaction.[29] Znaniecki saw culture as a field that is separate from nature, but also, from perception of individuals.[1] The essence of culture are socially constructed objects.[1] As one of the first sociologists, he started analyzing personal documents like letters, autobiographies, diaries and similar items.[32] He considered the analysis of such documents an important part of the humanistic coefficient method.[1]

Znaniecki saw sociology as an objective, inductive and generalizig science.[30] According to Szacki, for Znaniecki sociology was a nomothetic science that should be able to use a similar methodology as natural sciences[33] (however, Helena Znaniecki Lopata in her introduction to Social Relations and Social Roles contradicts Szacki, writes that for Znaniecki, sociology is a science "whose subject matter calls for a method different from that of natural sciences."[30]). In 1934 he formulated the principle of analytic induction, designed to identify universal propositions and causal laws.[34] He contrasted it with enumerative research, which provided mere correlations and could not account for exceptions in statistical relationships.[34] He was also critical of the statistical method, which he did not see as very useful.[34]

Four social systems

According to Znaniecki, sociology can be divided into the study of four dynamic social systems: social action theory, social relation theory, social actors theory and social groups theory.[35] For Znaniecki, social actions were a foundation of a society, as they give rise to more complex social relations, and he saw that theory as the foundation of all others.[1][35] Unlike Max Weber, he did not believe that everything can be reduced to social actions; he was also quite skeptical of any insights coming from the science of psychology, which he held in low esteem.[35]

The four major forms of cooperative interaction, or four social systems in growing complexity, included:

  • social actions (Polish czyny/czynności społeczne) - the most basic type of a social fact;[36]
  • social relations (Polish stosunki społeczne) - need at least two people and a mutual obligation; study of social relations is the study of norms regulating social actions;[37]
  • social personalities (Polish osoby/osobowości społeczne) - the combined picture that emerges from a number of different social roles that an individual has;[38]
  • social group (Polish grupy społeczne) - any group which is recognized by some as a separate entity;[39] Znaniecki saw the society as a group of groups, but denied it the primacy as an area that sociologist should focus on (at the same time recognizing that most sociologists differ on this).[40]

The four category division as described above is as it described in his 1934 The Method of Sociology. By 1958 Znaniecki reformulated it, and instead talked of social relations, social roles, social groups and societies.[30][41]

Other concepts

Znaniecki also defined four types of character and personality:

  • the humorous man (Polish człowiek zabawy) - develops among those who have much time, treats work as fun;
  • the working man (Polish człowiek pracy) - develops among the working class social class, treats work as a life necessity;
  • the well-behaved man (Polish człowiek dobrze wychowany) - develops among the intelligentsia social class;
  • the deviant man (Polish człowiek zboczeniec (dewiant)) - easily distinguishable from the others, not always in a negative perspective (he can be a genius or a criminal).

Znaniecki was deeply interested in the sociology of science.[1] He analyzed the social roles of scientists, and the concept of a school of thought.[1]

Works

Znaniecki's first academic works of 1910s were more philosophical then sociological; from 1920s his works was primarily sociological in nature.[5] His early works were focused on the analysis of culture, and characterized by strong criticism of the principles of sociological naturalism.[42] Szacki notes a puzzling gap in Znaniecki's research, which was that while he was well read and in discussion with most past and present theories, he mostly ignored the works of some notable sociologists of his time, such as Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto and Talcott Parsons.[17] In turn, his works were in close discussion with those of William I. Thomas, Georg Simmel, Robert E. Park and Emile Durkheim.[17]

His The Method of Sociology first introduced his concept of divisions within subfields of sociology.[11] Some of his most notable works included two books published in the same year (1952): Modern Nationalities and Cultural Sciences . The first is an analysis of the evolution of national culture societies and the second presents a theoretical study of the relation between sociology and other sciences.[11] He never finished the work on his magnum opus Systematic Sociology, which would eventually be collected and published posthumously in its unfinished, but final form, as the Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology (1965).[11][43]

List of works

Roughly half of published works of Znaniecki are in English; the rest are in Polish.[12]

In English:

  • The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (with William I. Thomas, 5 vols., 19l8-20).
  • The Principle of Relativity and Philosophical Absolutism, in The Philosophical Review, vol. 24, no. 2 (March 1915), pp. 150–164.
  • Cultural Reality (Chicago 1919),
  • The Laws of Social Psychology (Warsaw-Kraków-Poznań 1926),
  • The Method of Sociology (New York 1934),
  • Social Actions (New York 1936),
  • The Social Role of the Man of Knowledge (New York 1940),
  • Cultural Sciences. Their Origin Development (Urbana 1952),
  • Modern Nationalities (Urbana 1952),
  • Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology (San Francisco 1965),
  • On Humanistic Sociology (selection of works under redaction of R. Bierstedt, Chicago i London 1969),
  • The Subject Matter and Tasks of the Science of Knowledge (translated by Christopher Kasparek; first published in Polish, 1923), in Polish Contributions to the Science of Science, edited by Bohdan Walentynowicz, Dordrecht, D. Reidel, 1982, pp. 1–81.
  • The Social Role of the University Student (Poznań 1994).

In Polish:

  • Zagadnienie wartości w filozofii (Warsaw 1910),
  • Humanizm i poznanie (Warsaw 1912),
  • Upadek cywilizacji zachodniej. Szkic z pogranicza filozofii kultury i socjologii (Poznań 1921),
  • Wstęp do socjologii (Poznań 1922),
  • Socjologia wychowania (vol. I Warsaw 1928, vol. II Warsaw 1930),
  • Miasto w świadomości jego obywateli (Poznań 1931),
  • Ludzie teraźniejsi a cywilizacja przyszłości (Lwów-Warsaw 1934),

See also

  • Stanisław Ossowski
  • History of philosophy in Poland

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Piotr Sztompka (2002). Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Znak. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-83-240-0218-4. Retrieved 14 February 2013. 
  2. ↑ Zygmunt Dulczewski (1986). A Commemorative Book in Honor of Florian Znaniecki on the Centenary of His Birth: Papers and Communiques Presented to International Scientific Symposium on 3-4 December 1982 at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. UAM. p. 13. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 13. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Zygmunt Dulczewski (1 January 1994). "Florian Znaniecki: Life History". What Are Sociological Problems?. University of Illinois Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-83-85060-75-8. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 754. ISBN 8301138440. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Zygmunt Dulczewski (1 January 1994). "Florian Znaniecki: Life History". What Are Sociological Problems?. University of Illinois Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-83-85060-75-8. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Zygmunt Dulczewski (1 January 1994). "Florian Znaniecki: Life History". What Are Sociological Problems?. University of Illinois Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-83-85060-75-8. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Zygmunt Dulczewski (1 January 1994). "Florian Znaniecki: Life History". What Are Sociological Problems?. University of Illinois Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-83-85060-75-8. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 14. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Piotr Sztompka (2002). Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Znak. p. 18. ISBN 978-83-240-0218-4. Retrieved 14 February 2013. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 15. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 752. ISBN 8301138440. 
  13. ↑ "American Sociological Association: Florian Znaniecki". Asanet.org. Retrieved 2013-06-17. 
  14. ↑ ASR October 1954 Vol 19 No 5, pp 519–524)
  15. ↑ Zygmunt Dulczewski (1986). A Commemorative Book in Honor of Florian Znaniecki on the Centenary of His Birth: Papers and Communiques Presented to International Scientific Symposium on 3-4 December 1982 at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. UAM. p. 26. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Zygmunt Dulczewski (1992). Florian Znaniecki: Life and Work. Wydaw. Nakom. p. 238. ISBN 978-83-85060-36-9. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 779781. ISBN 8301138440. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 753. ISBN 8301138440. 
  19. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 777–778. ISBN 8301138440. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 760. ISBN 8301138440. 
  21. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 759. ISBN 8301138440. 
  22. ↑ Polish Philosophy Page: Florian Znaniecki. Archived 2007-12-19, retrieved 2008-11-01
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Piotr Sztompka (2002). Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Znak. p. 2425. ISBN 978-83-240-0218-4. Retrieved 14 February 2013. 
  24. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 761. ISBN 8301138440. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 762–763. ISBN 8301138440. 
  26. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 776–777. ISBN 8301138440. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Elżbieta Hałas (2010). Towards the World Culture Society: Florian Znaniecki's Culturalism. Peter Lang. p. 21. ISBN 978-3-631-59946-4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Bo Stråth; Nina Witoszek (1999). The Postmodern Challenge: Perspectives East and West. Rodopi. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-90-420-0755-0. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 766. ISBN 8301138440. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 16. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  31. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 763. ISBN 8301138440. 
  32. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 775. ISBN 8301138440. 
  33. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 772–773. ISBN 8301138440. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 773–774. ISBN 8301138440. 
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 766–767. ISBN 8301138440. 
  36. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 767. ISBN 8301138440. 
  37. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 768. ISBN 8301138440. 
  38. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 768–769. ISBN 8301138440. 
  39. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 770–771. ISBN 8301138440. 
  40. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. p. 771. ISBN 8301138440. 
  41. ↑ Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 19. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 
  42. ↑ Jerzy Szacki (2002). Historia mysli sociologicznej. Panstwowe wydawnictwo naukowe. pp. 755–757. ISBN 8301138440. 
  43. ↑ Helena Znaniecki Lopata (January 1965). Social Relations and Social Roles: The Unfinished Systematic Sociology. Ardent Media. p. 12. GGKEY:ZNTB80GRBQ4. Retrieved 17 June 2013. 

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