Dr hab. Michał Roch Kaczmarczyk, prof. UG from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Gdańsk, author of the book ‘Aporia wolności. Krytyka teorii społecznej’ (The aporia of freedom. Criticism of social theory), won the 2020 Jan Długosz Literary Contest.
The Jan Dlugosz Contest statue award, designed by late Professor Bronisław Chromy, together with the cash prize of PLN 30 000, this year went to the researcher from the University of Gdańsk - dr hab. Michał Roch Kaczmarczyk, author of the book ‘Aporia wolności. Krytyka teorii społecznej’ published by the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press.
‘Freedom is one of the most intriguing notions – often believed to be the essence of humanity or the basis of social order but it is simultaneously pushed out of the sociological lexicon as anachronism, which has no place in social sciences. References to freedom are full of ambiguities and ambivalences concealing both theoretical problems and personal dilemmas of scholars. The presented book breaks the silent tradition of avoiding the notion of freedom in social sciences, or expressing it in way that diminishes its fundamental significance. The author believes that articulating major role, which the issue of freedom really plays in sociology, sheds new light on social and political role of this area of science, the existing theoretical divisions and its future challenges. The book proves that the attitude towards freedom has fundamental importance to every social theory. This thesis is supported by the extensive review of views which left a permanent mark on the history of social thought over the last 200 years. In the book, a reader will find discussions on such classics views, like Pierre Bourdieu, Cornelius Castoriadis, Émile Durkheim, Erving Goffman, Niklas Luhmann, Karol Marks, George Herbert Mead, Talcott Parsons and Max Weber. The author shows the network of mutual relations between major sociological thought movements in a new, different way – invisible when disregarding the notion of freedom. People valuing the concept of freedom will not only find multiple justifications for the claim that freedom is a significant value for social order, but also the analysis of practical and theoretical consequences of this believe’ – reads the summary of the publication.
- The Jan Długosz Contest Jury appreciates author’s extensive expertise in sociology and philosophy, novelty of his approach, inspiring value of critical and firmly grounded thoughts, intellectual courage, free of arrogance, to thoroughly scrutinize social thought of giants, referring to Bertrand’s and Newton’s metaphor. Kaczmarczyk served the giants well, diligently and competently reading and presenting what they had to say and contributed to social science, moving it slightly forward and deepening understanding of fundamental, ontological category of freedom – reads award laudation delivered by prof. dr hab. Piotr Sztompka, Sociologist, Professor of Social Sciences, Full Professor at the Jagiellonian University.
Full Laudation available here.
The Jan Długosz Contest awards works that make significant contribution to international science and culture. It is presented annually during the Kraków Book Fair, which has been cancelled this year because of the pandemic. The contest however took place and the winner was revealed during the webcast. Awards were also presented in this form.
The Contest Jury is composed of the outstanding representatives of science who have volunteered since the first edition. Prof. dr hab. Władysław Stróżewski form the Institute of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University is the Chairman of the Jury. Other Jury Members include: prof. Andrzej Chwalba – researcher of social, cultural and political history of XIX -XXI centuries, Polish-Russian relations, history of Cracow and the Jagiellonian University, prof. Marcin Fabiański, Polish art historian, Professor of Humanities, prof. Andrzej Mączyński – Vice President of the Polish Academy of Skills, prof. dr hab. Ryszard Nycz – Head of the Department of Literary Anthropology and Cultural Studies of the Jagiellonian University, prof. dr hab. Leszek Polony from the Academy of Music in Cracow and prof. dr hab. Piotr Sztompka – former Head of the Department of Theoretical Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University and active professor of the Tischner European University.
Michał Roch Kaczmarczyk – Sociologist, Associate Professor at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Gdańsk. He specializes in sociological theory and sociology of law. His most significant publications include: ‘Wstęp do socjologicznej teorii własności’ (2006) [Introduction to sociological theory of ownership] – which was awarded the Polish Academy of Science Ludwig Krzywicki Award and ‘Nieposłuszeństwo obywatelskie a pojęcie prawa’ (2010) [Civil disobedience vs the notion of law]. He translated following works into Polish: ‘The social system’, by Talcott Parsons and ‘Social systems’, by Niklas Luhmann. He has been a recipient of the following scholarships: Max-Weber-Kolleg in Erfurt (2008), Kościuszko Foundation at the State University of New York at Buffalo (2010–2012), Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala (2015–2016) and the University of Copenhagen (2018).
Translation: Adam Myzyk
