Programme statements of the Sociological and Political Studies. New Series

The title of our journal is a direct reference to the Sociological and Political Studies periodical that was established by Julian Hochfeld in 1957 and published until 1968. In those times it was a highly significant journal, in which many sociologists made their debut — sociologists who would later become emblematic figures of the Polish sociology. Among them were: Zygmunt Bauman, Maria Hirszowicz, Włodzimierz Wesołowski, Jerzy Wiatr. In 2013, the Scientific Board of the Institute of Sociology of the University of Warsaw decided to reactivate the journal under the title Sociological and Political Studies. New Series, and appointed Professor Jacek Raciborski as its Editor-in-Chief.

Professor Zygmunt Bauman became the first Chairperson of the Editorial Board. After his death in 2016, the Board offered this position to Professor Jerzy Wiatr, who had also been a member of the editorial team of the ‘old’ journal.

Our journal is open to many different strands of social theory. This does not mean that we champion a vision of sociology that is not engaged and free from valuating. On the contrary; the journal Sociological and Political Studies. New Series wishes to support the programme of engaged sociology and political science — a programme that supports the idea of freedom, equity, solidarity, and justice, as well as one that combines diagnoses of social reality with projects of changes.

Any programme of a scientific journal is best expressed through a list of preferred subjects. The phenomenon of political power is at the heart of our vision. This phenomenon had been, and continues to be, the fundamental—even founding—theme of social sciences. Political power holds different communities together. The state continues to be the most significant one. However, state theory seems to be a neglected area within Polish social sciences. We wish to change this state of affairs, moving beyond the existing boundaries of the discipline towards a new institutional economics as well as public administration. Other themes that are of great interest to us include democracy, the condition of citizenship, and civil societies. We wish to consider the questions of state, democracy, citizenship, and civil society by the means of both normative and descriptive orders. This opens our journal to the environment of political philosophers — one that is rather strong in Poland. There is also room for articles that analyse the political sphere with the help of formal models.

The question of the functioning of the Polish political system has primacy in our journal, but we also support comparative studies and theoretical analyses of more global processes. This approach of ours resulted in the mono-thematic English-language issue devoted to the question of new authoritarianism (2/07/2017).

The journal Sociological and Political Studies. New Series is a fairly traditional periodical. The articles are written in accordance with patterns that are typical of social sciences. However, every now and then we willingly publish a political essay — one that is written with passion and commitment, and not necessarily by authors who are academics. The Polish language is the default language of the journal, although—besides English-language abstracts that all articles must feature—we will publish in English those articles that had been conceived of as such. The journal Sociological and Political Studies. New Series is published every half a year by the University of Warsaw, with the SEDNO Academic Press (previously Warsaw University Press) being the present publishing partner. The journal follows expanded reviewing procedures and complies with the COPE standards (see the ‘For Authors’ section). The paper version is the basic form of the journal. Simultaneously, however, the journal is placed in selected digital databases.

Editor-in-Chief — Professor Jacek Raciborski