From Wallerstein to Rothschild

The Sudden Disappearance of the Polish School of Dependency Theory After 1989 as a Manifestation of Deeper Transformations in the Global Field of Social Science

Authors

  • Andrzej Turkowski Robert B. Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw
  • Tomasz Zarycki Robert B. Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2023.1135

Keywords:

Sociology Of Science, Intelligentsia, Poland, Post-Communism, World-Systems, Periphery

Abstract

This article investigates a neglected issue of the influence of systemic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe on the (sub)field of social sciences and more broadly on local fields of power. Our case study concerns a vibrant and internationally connected network of scholars from various disciplines and generations who were involved in developing and popularizing a dependency paradigm in communist Poland. As we show that the fall of communism and related transformation in the Polish field of power brought about dramatic shift in terms of their career trajectories as well as their ideological orientation and in consequence a sudden disappearance of this academic ecosystem. On this basis we argue about wider changes—encompassing marginalization of the “critical,” autonomous tradition and strengthening of heteronomic trends in social sciences in the region but also at the global level.

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Published

2023-03-21

How to Cite

Turkowski, A., & Tomasz Zarycki. (2023). From Wallerstein to Rothschild: The Sudden Disappearance of the Polish School of Dependency Theory After 1989 as a Manifestation of Deeper Transformations in the Global Field of Social Science. Journal of World-Systems Research, 29(1), 149–173. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2023.1135

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2023): Winter/Spring 2023

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Research Articles

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