Otwarty marksizm i odrodzenie socjologii: rola Juliana Hochfelda i Zygmunta Baumana

In 1956, political liberalization in Poland resulted in the revival of sociology, previously banned from Polish universities. Julian Hochfeld (1911–1966), previously a leading Socialist politician and currently professor of the University of Warsaw, played an important role in this process by (a) initiating the debate on the revision of Marxist social theory in the spirit of „Open Marxism”, and (b) establishing the chair of political sociology at the University of Warsaw. His closest associate and successor was Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2107) until his politically motivated dismissal from the University of Warsaw and emigration in 1968. Academic interests of Hochfeld’s school focused on (a) reinterpretation of Marxist social theory and its confrontation with main trends in contemporary sociology, (b) empirical research on political life in Poland, and (c) comparative cross-national study of politics. This tradition is now continued by the new generation of Polish political sociologists.