''The Polish Peasant in Europe and America'' is a book 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 ...

and William I. Thomas, considered to be one of the classics of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

. The book is a study of Polish immigrants to the United States and their families, based on personal documents, and was published in five volumes in the years 1918 to 1920.

Theme

At the turn of the 20th century, Poles accounted for about a quarter of all new immigrants to the United States.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

was host to about 350,000 Poles and had the third largest population of Poles (after

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 ...

and

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

). ''The Polish Peasant in Europe and America'' was the culmination of research by American sociologist William I. Thomas and Polish scholar

, carried out primarily during their time at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and supported by a substantial grant from millionaire Helen Culver. It is a study of Polish immigrants to America and their families based on personal documents (primarily letters) as well as on documents such as brochures, newspaper articles, parish and court documents, and so on. The work opens with an introduction, or ''Methodological Note'', written primarily by Znaniecki, in which he discusses the history and structure of Polish countryside, and the study's

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...

. This topic is of primary concern of tomes one and two, with tomes three to five focusing on the recent changes to the Polish countryside, and the transformation of Polish peasant-immigrants in America. The third tome's major focus is the analysis an autobiography of one peasant, Władysław Wiśniewski. Thomas was the originator of this study, having taken interest in studying immigrant communities of Chicago already in the 1890s. He was also the originator of the concept of studying written materials for sociological insight, and initially intended this work to be a collection of translated and annotated primary documents. Znaniecki convinced him to extend this project into a larger work, one with a more detailed analysis of the topic subject, its methodology and corresponding theory. Thomas and Znaniecki intended to explore the relation between individuals and society, focusing on groups such as families and neighborhoods, and community ties, which they believed were key to

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or socio ...

. They argue that the Polish community was shaped less by US government policies, and more by its own culture and social ties. They stress the importance of the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

, and attribute

social disorganization In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorgani ...

to cases when individuals become isolated from a group (see also anomie). The authors start by analyzing the circumstances of Polish countryside and reasons for immigration, and in conclusion discuss the transformation of said immigrants, show that the Poles are becoming not American but

Polish-Americans Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83 ...

, a new ethnic group, as their culture is changing to fit the American context, but retaining some unique characteristics. The five tomes totaled about 2,232 pages. They were published over three years: in 1918 (volumes I and II), 1919 (volume III) and 1920 (volumes IV and V).

Controversies

The work has been subject to two major controversies. The first concerns a society scandal that enveloped Thomas around 1918, which resulted in him losing his professorship at the

, and the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

cancelling its deal with the authors about the printing of the first edition. Subsequently the book was published in the less prestigious Gorham Press from Boston. The second controversy concerns the question of authorship, in particular with regards to whether Thomas or Znaniecki should be considered the primary author. The book's idea originated with Thomas; however after seeing Znaniecki's proposal for changing it from a collection of primary materials into an analytical piece, and reading his proposed re-framing introduction, Thomas proposed to him that they become co-authors. Dulczewski in his biography of Znaniecki concludes that the question is moot, as both had contributed to this work significantly and "neither would have been able to author this work by themselves". While some consider Znaniecki to be a junior writer, Thomas himself wrote that "it would be quite impossible to establish who wrote what", and Bulmer concludes that "to regard Zaniecki as merely Thomas' assistant is incorrect... he took a major part in drafting the book... the two were true collaborators", with Znaniecki's skill in philosophy, methodology and the subject matter of Polish society complementing Thomas' expertise in sociology, social psychology, and the Polish-American Chicago community.

Significance

This five-volume work is considered a classic of empirical sociology. Martin Bulmer in 1986 described it as a "neglected classic... landmark because it attempted to integrate theory and data in a way no American study had done before". In the introduction to the 1996 edition, Eli Zaretsky argues it can be seen as a "founding work" of American sociology. It is a valuable contribution to the

methodological In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

development of the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

in the United States. The book had begun a shift from theoretical research into one grounded in empirical data. Bulmer notes that "the subsequent use in sociological research of personal documents, such as life histories, letters, diaries, and other first-person material, may in large measure be traced back to the influence of ''The Polish Peasant''. (This approach is known as

content analysis Content analysis is the study of documents and communication artifacts, which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video. Social scientists use content analysis to examine patterns in communication in a replicable and systematic ...

, and this study has also been described as a classic case study of this approach). The life story of Władek was the first systematically collected sociological life history". It was a major influence on the Chicago school, providing a model for much future research. It contributed to the development of the

social disorganization theory In sociology, the social disorganization theory is a theory developed by the Chicago School, related to ecological theories. The theory directly links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social disorgan ...

and became a landmark study of

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...

(in the word's original meaning, i.e. how do new immigrants to United States become "Americans"). It was also one of the earliest works to study the topic of immigration to the United States, particularly with regards to trying to understand both the European and the American social context. In 1937 the

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...

listed the book as one of the six most important works in

. A year later,

Herbert Blumer Herbert George Blumer (March 7, 1900 – April 13, 1987) was an American sociologist whose main scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism and methods of social research. Believing that individuals create social reality through collective ...

headed a commission which produced an extensive, approximate 200-pages analysis of the book, and became the first tome in a series of ''Critiques of Research in the Social Science''. By 1939 it had at least 30 English reviews and 10 in different languages. A Polish edition, ''Chłop polski w Europie i Ameryce'', was published in 1976.

References

Bibliography

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External links