Doctoral Dissertation Research in Sociology: Characteristics of Associational Life and the Development of Civic Society

SES-1334130加州大学伯克利分校的Peter EvansMalgorzata Kurjanska本项目是关于国家政治排斥和文化压制政策如何塑造公民社会的论文田野工作的继续。在过去的二十年里，人们对交往生活的兴趣重新抬头。一些研究人员将公民社会置于民主巩固的核心。其他人举了一些威权国家的例子，这些国家得到了密集但不文明的社会的支持。然而，很少有研究分析是什么力量塑造了这种联想景观？S的性格。因此，这项研究提出的问题是：为什么会出现联想，是什么导致它们变得文明或不文明？对相关学术文献的调查显示，有两种解释：以国家为中心的理论和经济理论。这个项目通过对比分析第一次世界大战前和两次世界大战之间[1918-1939]波兰的社会生活来检验和建立这些理论。该项目采用了跨地区和跨时间的历史比较。它利用历史叙述和描述性统计来考察第一次世界大战前和两次世界大战期间波兰的交往生活的发展。除了理论上的贡献，这项研究还将有助于了解东欧的公民社会。在后共产主义背景下，人们对波兰公民社会进行了广泛研究。然而，关于二战前东欧种族多元化社会中的交往生活的研究却寥寥无几。这篇论文解决了现有研究中的这一差距。布罗德影响这项研究纳入了经常被忽视的研究，因为它对非波兰语者来说并不容易获得。因此，它将为说英语的观众带来由于语言障碍而被边缘化的研究。对两次世界大战期间塑造波兰社会格局的因素进行历史分析，将有助于揭示现代多民族国家推行的社会和经济政策的含义，这些国家的公民社会不断发展，民主化道路不确定。该项目有助于确定支持民间社会发展的社会或经济政策类型，从而有助于现代辩论。

SES-1334130Peter EvansMalgorzata KurjanskaUniversity of California-BerkeleyThis project is a continuation of dissertation fieldwork on how state policies of political exclusion and cultural repression shaped civic society. The past two decades have seen a resurgence of interest in associational life. Some researchers place civil society at the heart of democratic consolidation. Others cite examples of authoritarian states supported by dense yet uncivil society. Few studies, however, analyze what forces shape the associational landscape?s character. Thus, this research asks: Why do associations arise and what leads them to become civil or uncivil in character? A survey of relevant scholarly literature reveals two types of explanations: state-centered and economic theories. This project tests and builds upon these theories through comparative analysis of associational life in pre-WWI and interwar [1918-1939] Poland. The project employs cross-regional and cross-time historical comparisons. It utilizes historical narratives and descriptive statistics to examine the development of associational life in pre-WWI and interwar Poland. In addition to theoretical contributions, this research will contribute to knowledge on civic society in Eastern Europe. Polish civic society has been researched extensively in the post-communist context. Yet there are few studies of pre-WWII associational life in the ethnically diverse societies of early twentieth century Eastern Europe. This dissertation addresses this gap in existing research.Broader Impacts The study incorporates research that is often overlooked as it is not readily available to non-Polish speakers. Thus, it will bring to an English-speaking audience studies that have been marginalized due to language barriers. A historical analysis of factors that shaped the associational landscape in interwar Poland will shed light on the implications of social and economic policies pursued by modern, multi-ethnic states with growing civic societies and uncertain paths to democratization. This project contributes to modern debates by helping to identify the types of policies, social or economic, which support the development of civil society.