Aims and scope of the Sociological and Political Studies. New Series

The title of our journal directly refers to ,,Sociological and Political Studies” published in 1957-1968 by Julian Hochfeld. Many prominent sociologists who became emblematic figures of Polish post-war sociology debuted in that highly significant journal. Among them were: Zygmunt Bauman, Maria Hirszowicz, Włodzimierz Wesołowski, Jerzy Wiatr.

In 2013, the Academic Board of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Warsaw reactivated the journal under the title: “Sociological and Political Studies. New Series” and appointed Professor Jacek Raciborski as its Editor-in-Chief. Prof. Zygmunt Bauman became the first chairman of the Editorial Board. After his death in 2016, the Council elected to this position Prof. Jerzy Wiatr, who had also been a member of the editorial team of the ‘old’ journal.

The aims and scope of our journal are best expressed by our preferred topics. Our main aim is to explore the phenomenon of political power which had been, and continues to be, the fundamental theme for social sciences. Political power holds different communities together. The state continues to be the most significant one. However, the theory of the state is a neglected area within Polish social sciences. We aim at changing this state of affairs, moving beyond the existing boundaries of the discipline towards a new institutional economics as well as public management.

Thus, in our journal we give primacy to the issue of the functioning of political systems. Other great, topics we take up are: democracy and threats to it, civil society, armed conflicts, migration, climate policies. In addressing global issues, we pay special attention to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe – both as case studies and comparatively. We ask about the state of democracy in these countries, the condition of civil society, the transformation of values in the societies of post-communist countries, etc. The issues of voting behavior and electoral law are also important to us.

The journal is open to very different backgrounds and currents of social theory. We welcome authors from Poland's thriving community of political philosophers, qualitative researchers as well as researchers who analyze the political sphere using formal models. We are open to both authors identifying with non-engaged sociology, free of value judgments, and authors who programmatically combine diagnoses of social reality with projects of its change.

“Sociological and Political Studies. New Series” is a fairly traditional periodical. The articles are written in accordance with patterns typical of the social sciences. At the same time, from time to time we willingly publish a political essay – one written with passion and commitment, not necessarily by authors with academic status. The primary language of the journal is Polish, but in addition to English-language abstracts accompanying all texts, we also publish articles in English.

“Sociological and Political Studies. New Series” is published as semi-annual. The publisher is the University of Warsaw, and the current publishing partner is the Academic Publishing House SEDNO (formerly WUW). The ISSN for the print version is: 0585-556X, and for the digital version: 3071-8090. The journal follows developed double-blind review procedures and adheres to COPE standards (see For Authors). The digital version is the basic version of the journal. At the same time, printing of paper copies is possible upon individual request directly from the publishing partner.

Editor-in-Chief — Professor Jacek Raciborski