Jerzy Ryszard Szacki (6 February 1929 – 25 October 2016) was a Polish
sociologist and
historian of ideas
Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...
.
[Jerzy Szacki, Liberalism after communism, Central European University Press, 1995, back cover]
/ref>[Nauka Polska, "prof. zw. dr hab. czł. rzecz. PAN Jerzy Ryszard Szacki"]
From 1973 he was a professor at the University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
, and in 1991 became a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...
. He is considered one of the most prominent representatives of the Warsaw School of the History of Ideas.
Life
Szacki was born in Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
in 1929. After World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he worked for the Polish Telephone Authority, first as a locksmith, then at a desk job. In 1948, he began to study sociology at the University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
.[ Incidentally, his was the last class to graduate before sociology was declared a "]bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
" discipline and the sociological departments of Polish universities were closed in 1952. Szacki himself was sent to work in the Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
-based train wagon factory Pafawag
Pafawag (Państwowa Fabryka Wagonów) ( English: National Rail Carriage Factory) is a Polish locomotive manufacturer based in Wrocław. The company became part of Adtranz in 1997 as Adtranz Pafawag, and in 2001 part of Bombardier Transportation. . ...
.
In 1956, when the sociological department in Warsaw re-opened, Szacki returned there to obtain a Ph.D. degree. He wrote his thesis at the "Institute for the Education of Research Staff" ''(Instytut Kształcenia Kadr Naukowych)'', which was attached to the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party (, ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other legally permitted subordinate minor parti ...
and was soon afterwards renamed to "Institute for Social Sciences" ''(Instytut Nauk Społecznych)'', whose director at the time was .
Szacki completed his habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
at the department of philosophy in 1965.[ He was appointed "extraordinary professor" in 1973 and "ordinary professor" in 1987, the highest rank in Polish academe. In the meantime, Szacki held various administrative positions at the University of Warsaw, including Vice-Dean of the Department of Social Sciences (1967–1968),][ Dean of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology (1981–1983), and director of the Institute for the History of Social Thought within the Institute of Sociology (1968–1999). Szacki retired from the university in 1999, but has been teaching at the private university-level ]Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities
SWPS University is a private non-profit university in Poland established in 1996 by three psychology professors, Andrzej Eliasz, Zbigniew Pietrasiński and Janusz Reykowski.
SWPS University is one of the largest private universities in Pola ...
since 2003.
Szacki lectured and researched at several universities and institutions worldwide, including the New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...
, the Collège de France
The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...
, the University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
, the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
(All Souls College
All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...
and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen
The Institute for Human Sciences (, IWM) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences based in Vienna, Austria.
History and core idea
The IWM was founded in 1982 by the Polish philosopher Krzysztof Micha ...
(Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
).
From 1972 to 1976, Szacki was the president of the Polish Sociological Association
The Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne (PTS) (Polish Sociological Association) is the main professional organization of sociologists in Poland. The PTS defines its mission as "supporting the development of sociology and popularizing sociological kno ...
, and held numerous further administrative positions, including in the Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...
(PAN). From 1974 to 1991, he was editor-in-chief of the ''Polish Sociology Bulletin''.[Antoni Sulek, "The Multifarious and Changing Functions of the Polish Sociological Association", ''International Sociology'']
Szacki wrote his monumental ''Historia myśli socjologicznej'' ("History of Sociological Thought") in Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
and Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. It was originally published in English in 1979; while it failed to make a strong impact on international sociology, it became a popular textbook among Polish teachers and students of sociology, a trend that continued after his death. The updated edition of 2002 was awarded with the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science ''(Nagroda Fundacji na rzecz Nauki Polskiej)'', colloquially dubbed the "Polish Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
", in 2003.
In the 1970s, Szacki began to maintain contacts with oppositional circles, although he never became an active figure in politics. In 1978, he participated in the informal discussion group '' Doświadczenie i Przyszłość'', which brought together pro- and anti-government intellectuals.
In 1991, Szacki co-founded the Solidarność Pracy (Labour Solidarity), a short-lived social-democratic
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...
party formed by left-wing Solidarity
Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
members, which merged with the Labour Union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
''(Unia Pracy)'' the following year. In 1998, he prefaced a book about the Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
-based milieu of Polish liberals edited by the politician Donald Tusk
Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...
(then a member of the Freedom Union).
In 1994, Szacki published a book on ''Liberalism after communism'' (original title ''Liberalizm po komunizmie''), which was translated into English and other languages and received favourable reviews in the West. In it, Szacki addresses the challenges faced by liberal democracy in an environment shaped by decades of communism and earlier non-democratic governments - a topic that has occupied much of Szacki's academic publications and popular essays in the general press.[
Szacki also translated several classic works from English and French into Polish: Some English-language writings by ]Florian Znaniecki
Florian Witold Znaniecki (; 15 January 1882 – 23 March 1958) was a Polish-born American philosopher and sociologist who taught and wrote in Poland and in the United States. Over the course of his work, he shifted his focus from philosoph ...
, a pioneering Polish sociologist, as well as Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim (; or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French Sociology, sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern soci ...
's classic work ''Les Règles de la méthode sociologique'', Jean-Pierre Vernant
Jean-Pierre Vernant (; January 4, 1914 – January 9, 2007) was a French resistant, historian and anthropologist, specialist in ancient Greece. Influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vernant developed a structuralist approach to Greek myth, traged ...
's ''Les origines de la pensée grecque'' and Marcel Mauss
Marcel Israël Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociolo ...
's ''Sociologie et anthropologie''.
In 2004, Szacki was honoured as a Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
. As a teenager during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Szacki had helped his mother Barbara Szacka (who was also honoured) hide and support a pregnant Jewish woman named Irena Hollender, who had escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...
. In Nazi-occupied Poland, hiding Jews was an offence punishable by death.[Yad Vashem]
Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem, By January 1, 2009
(under "Szacka, Barbara; son Jerzy)
at Yad Vashem website
Szacki was married to fellow sociologist Barbara Szacka
Barbara may refer to:
People
* Barbara (given name)
* Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter
* Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer
* Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...
. He died on 25 October 2016.['']Gazeta Wyborcza
(; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...
'', "Prof. Jerzy Szacki", 2003-10-24
/ref>
Works
*1958: ''Historia jedynego romansu. Opowieść o Mochnackim'' Mochnacki">he history of a romance: A tale about Maurycy Mochnacki, Mochnacki Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna.
*1962: ''Ojczyzna, naród, rewolucja: Problematyka narodowa w polskiej myśli szlacheckorewolucyjnej'' [Fatherland, nation, revolution: The national issue in the Polish Nobles' revolutionary]. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
*1964: ''Durkheim''. Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna.
*1965: ''Kontrrewolucyjne paradoksy: wizje świata francuskich antagonistów Wielkiej Rewolucji, 1789-1815'' ounter-revolutionary paradoxes: The world-views of the French antagonists of the Great Revolution, 1789-1815 Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
*1968: ''Utopie'' topias Warszawa: Iskry.
*1971: ''Tradycja: przegląd problematyki'' radition: A survey of the topic Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
*1977 (ed.): ''Czy kryzys socjologii?'' ociology in crisis? Warszawa: Czytelnik.
*1977 (ed.): ''Idea społeczeństwa komunistycznego w pracach klasyków marksizmu'' he idea of communist society in the works of Marxism's classics Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
*1979: ''History of Sociological Thought''. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
*1980 (2nd edition 2000): ''Spotkania z UtopiÄ…'' ncounters with Utopia Warszawa: Iskry / Wydawnictwo Sic! (2nd edition).
*1981: ''Historia myśli socjologicznej'' istory of Sociological Thought Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. (new edition 2002, .
*1984 (ed. with Joanna Kurczewska): ''Tradycja i nowoczesność'' radition and modernity Warszawa: Czytelnik. .
*1985 (ed. with Edmund Mokrzycki, Maria Ofierska): ''O społeczeństwie i teorii społecznej: księga poświę̨cona pamięci Stanisława Ossowskiego'' n society and social theory: A book dedicated to the memory of Stanisław Ossowski">Stanisław Ossowski">n society and social theory: A book dedicated to the memory of Stanisław Ossowski Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. .
*1986: ''Znaniecki''. Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna.
*1991: ''Dylematy historiografii idei oraz inne studia i szkice'' [Dilemmas of the history of ideas and other studies and sketches]. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
*1994: ''Liberalizm po komunizmie''. Kraków: Znak.
(English translation: ''Liberalism after communism''. Budapest, New York: Central European University Press, 1995. .[
*1995 (ed.): ''Sto lat socjologii polskiej: od Supińskiego do Szczepańskiego'' ne hundred years of Polish sociology: From Supiński to Szczepański Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. .
*1997 (ed.): ''Ani książe, ani kupiec: obywatel. Idea społeczeństwa obywatelskiego w myśli współczesnej'' either prince nor merchant: The citizen. The idea of civil society in contemporary thought Kraków: Znak.
]
See also
* Warsaw School
*Zygmunt Bauman
Zygmunt Bauman (; ; 19 November 1925 – 9 January 2017) was a Polish–British sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. ...
*Florian Znaniecki
Florian Witold Znaniecki (; 15 January 1882 – 23 March 1958) was a Polish-born American philosopher and sociologist who taught and wrote in Poland and in the United States. Over the course of his work, he shifted his focus from philosoph ...
*Piotr Sztompka
Piotr Sztompka (born 2 March 1944) is a Polish sociologist known for his work on the theory of social trust. He is professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, and has also frequently served as visiting professor at ...
Notes
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szacki, Jerzy
1929 births
2016 deaths
Polish sociologists
Polish Righteous Among the Nations
University of Warsaw alumni
Academic staff of the University of Warsaw
Writers from Warsaw
Academic staff of SWPS University