Abstract

Researchers and commentators of public life pay great attention to patterns of culture that shape the identity of Poles. From Paweł Jasienica, Aleksander Bocheński, Jerzy Topolski, Witold Kula, Józef Burszty, Józef Tischner, Janusz Hryniewicz, Janusz Tazbir, (and lately from) Ryszard Legutko, Andrzej Leder or Jan Sowa we learn not only how to interpret the history of Poland, but also to what factors inhibit its social and economic development. Th ese fi ndings permeate the public debate about how it should be. Th e more worrying is the relationship between the preferred methodology in these studies and the content of the diagnosis. Th e most common mistakes are unreliable reconstruction of cultural codes and artifacts, (treated as a preliminary assumption) homogeneous model of culture or confusion of long-term processes with processes of social change. So the question is whether the diagnosis burdened with similar weaknesses explains cultural order or refl ects the image of the researcher on it?

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