The Protestant Ethic In Poland: A Book That Failed To Make Sociology

There is hardly any debate as to Max Weber’s status as a classic of sociology anywhere in the world, and the Protestant Ethic is probably his best-known work. Nevertheless, there are contexts in which the best known and the most referenced book may not play a role adequate to its apparent significance in the making of sociology. Weber’s reception in Poland provided one of such contexts. The failure of Weberian inspiration may be succinctly summarized as follows: instead of providing historical, comparative and interdisciplinary insight for explaining the subtle link between culture and social action, it was used as a prop in scientific quest after a good footing for capitalist economic practices in a post-communist society.

In my presentation, I will substantiate my contention that Weber’s book did not make sociology in Poland despite its popularity as a reference source. Among the most important factors which determined the state of reception of The Protestant Ethic I will address the following: (1) presentism of reading, (2) narrow interpretation lacking the background of Weber’s greater sociological project, and (3) overestimating religious factor in Weberian model. I will discuss the development of sociology in Poland, including its historical, social and cultural aspects, in order to provide a tentative explanation why The Protestant Ethic failed to make sociology in Poland not only in the early 20^th century or under communist rule until 1989, but also after the passage to democracy and free-market economy. In each of this periods, Weberian sociological imagery marked by a combination of a sense for history and culture failed and was replaced by a day-to-day reactive research, which did not make sociology, despite giving work to a large number of sociologists.