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 conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

.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 ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

, and in 1991 became a member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, 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 ...

. 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 ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in 1929. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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

. Incidentally, his was the last class to graduate before sociology was declared a "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

" discipline and the sociological departments of Polish universities were closed in 1952. Szacki himself was sent to work in the

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

-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. I ...

. In 1956, when the sociological department in Warsaw re-opened, Szacki returned there to obtain a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

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 Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), 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 lega ...

and was soon afterwards renamed to "Institute for Social Sciences" ''(Instytut Nauk Społecznych)'', whose director at the time was Bronisław Baczko. Szacki completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

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 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) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

, the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) 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 members of t ...

and the

Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen The Institute for Human Sciences (german: Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, 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 found ...

(

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

). 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

(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 the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. 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 The Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science () is the most prestigious scientific award in Poland given every year from 1992 by a non-governmental non-profit Polish organization, Foundation for Polish Science (). The prize is widely regarded a ...

''(Nagroda Fundacji na rzecz Nauki Polskiej)'', colloquially dubbed the "Polish

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

", 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 Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

party formed by left-wing

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

members, which merged with the

Labour Union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

''(Unia Pracy)'' the following year. In 1998, he prefaced a book about the

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

-based milieu of Polish liberals edited by the politician

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...

(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 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 philosophy to sociology. H ...

, a pioneering Polish sociologist, as well as

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...

's classic work ''Les Règles de la méthode sociologique'',

Jean-Pierre Vernant Jean-Pierre Vernant (; January 4, 1914 – January 9, 2007) was a French historian and anthropologist, specialist in ancient Greece. Influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vernant developed a structuralist approach to Greek myth, tragedy, and ...

's ''Les origines de la pensée grecque'' and

Marcel Mauss Marcel 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 sociology and a ...

's ''Sociologie et anthropologie''. In 2004, Szacki was honoured as a

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

. As a teenager during

, 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 (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

. 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. He died on 25 October 2016.''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...

'', "Prof. Jerzy Szacki", 2003-10-24

/ref>

Works

*1958: ''Historia jedynego romansu. Opowieść o Mochnackim'' Mochnacki.html" ;"title="he history of a romance: A tale about Maurycy Mochnacki, 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 Utopią'' 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]. 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.

Life

Works

See also

Notes

Further reading