Between social control and conflict: an analytical framework for social movements

The main goal of this article is to attempt to determine the analytical framework of social movements that would constitute an essential element of this form of collective activity. In order to identify this element (or elements) I will review the four main approaches to the study of social movements, which allows me to settle the issue in sociological conflict tradition. From the point of view of the outlined objective, Alain Touraine’s approach will be a key perspective

The Struggle for social welfare: towards an emerging welfare sociology

The main aim of the article is to outline welfare sociology as a potential sub-discipline of sociology and to discuss the issues of broadly defined social welfare. While in contemporary social sciences the literature concerning welfare often focuses on themes such as happiness (psychology), prosperity (economics), or quality of life (sociology), these themes may be considered too narrow and do not reflect the complexity of the issue. However, if one considers the definition of social welfare through the prism of material and non-material needs, as well as the needs expressed individually and collectively, it is possible to attempt a comprehensive study of this phenomenon. The author uses the definition of social welfare to look at research on (a) welfare state regimes, (b) welfare attitudes and (c) issues of work in contemporary capitalism, all to enable the application of research results within the analysis of the title concept

Nadzorować i kształtować. Wymiary społeczeństwa sieciowego

Mariusz Baranowsk

Working in Social Cooperatives. The Case of Greater Poland Region of Poland

The present paper concentrates on the issue of work in the context of operation of social cooperatives, defined by the law as social enterprises (Act of 27 April 2006). In order to illustrate the character of operation of this new form of economic life organisation / form of entrepreneurship, which, apart from purely market-oriented purposes (generating profits), also has social objectives (social and professional re-integration of persons excluded or threatened with exclusion), I will use the data collected in the course of the project called “Social Exclusion: Diagnosis and Mechanisms of Counteraction in Greater Poland Region”.

The Property Rights Theory Approach from a Socio-Economic Viewpoint

This paper examines the property rights theory as a part of the New Institutional Economics. It uses the socioeconomic perspective to capture advantages and disadvantages of this theory in the context of economic effectiveness of a company (practical issue), as well as the usefulness of its analytical tools (theoretical issue)

Resentymentalny racjonalizm w ocenie polskich czasopism naukowych: chaos, upolitycznienie i utowarowienie

The article aims to characterize the evaluation of Polish scientific journals in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, in the broader context of national science and higher education reforms. For this purpose, the notion of resentment rationalism, referring to Max Scheler’s work, was introduced to highlight the disorganization of successive attempts to rebuild the system of science rooted in evil and atavistic passions. As a consequence of the adopted research optics, what emerges is a picture of chaotic, politicized and commodified reforms, which fail to correct the position of Polish science and antagonize the community of researchers, by making it impossible to deal with important structural problems in this field.Artykuł ma na celu charakterystykę oceny polskich czasopism naukowych z zakresu humanistyki i nauk społecznych w szerszym kontekście krajowych reform nauki i szkolnictwa wyższego. W tym celu wprowadzono pojęcie resentymentalnego racjonalizmu, nawiązujące do pracy Maxa Schelera, by uwypuklić dezorganizację kolejnych prób przebudowy systemu nauki zakorzenionych w złych i atawistycznych namiętnościach. W konsekwencji przyjętej optyki badawczej wyłania się obraz chaotycznych, upolitycznionych i utowarowionych reform, które nie tylko nie korygują pozycji nauki polskiej, ale dodatkowo antagonizują środowisko badaczy, uniemożliwiając zajmowanie się jej ważnymi problemami strukturalnymi

Profesorowi Jackowi Tittenbrunowi (1952–2018) in memoriam

On 12 April 2018, two days before his sixty-sixth birthday, Professor Jacek Tittenbrun, an outstanding economic sociologist associated with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, a member of Editorial Board of Critical Studies, a supervisor of many master's and doctoral theses and a teacher of many generations of sociologists, died. An extremely hardworking, inquisitive and polemical researcher, whose entire scientific output and life attitude were filled with critical thinking.12 kwietnia 2018 roku, dwa dni przez swoimi sześćdziesiątymi szóstymi urodzinami, zmarł Profesor Jacek Tittenbrun, wybitny socjolog gospodarki związany z Uniwersytetem im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, członek rady naukowej „Studiów Krytycznych”, promotor wielu prac magisterskich i doktorskich oraz nauczyciel wielu pokoleń socjologów i socjolożek. Niezwykle pracowity, dociekliwy i polemiczny badacz, którego cały dorobek naukowy i postawa życiowa przepełnione były myśleniem krytycznym

Social welfare in the light of topic modelling

With an increased focus on social well-being in response to a burgeoning global economy exposing the weaknesses of social welfare policies, research output in the field has grown exponentially. Keeping track of the evolving research themes proves difficult due to the steady rise in the number of studies published in the interdisciplinary field of social welfare. Therefore, researchers need a comprehensive overview to confirm the current shape of the field based on the published research. Using a latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm as a topic modelling technique, this study identified 12 prominent themes from more than 10,000 research outputs on social welfare published from 2000 to 2020 in Scopus-indexed journals. Such an exploratory text-mining approach to literature review provides broad insights into the diversity of research and may serve as a foundation for further in-depth studies. Identifying these 12 thematic areas and their sub-themes allows us to articulate the complexity and diversity of social welfare issues, which go far beyond the field of well-established welfare economics or social work. The study shows that the topic of ‘social welfare’ has not only evolved over time but has significantly broadened its meaning. It can no longer be solely synonymous with institutional social security. We contend that research in this area needs to take into account a broader and more systematic range of determinants constituting the dynamic character of social welfare