Jakub Motrenko is a graduate from the Institute of Sociology and Institute of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw. Previously he has also studied in Bordeaux and Poitiers in France. His doctoral thesis explores the paradigmatic shift in Polish sociology towards anti-positivism in the 70's and 80's. His main scholarly interests include the philosophy and sociology of the social sciences, the history of sociology and sociological theory.
Dates of Visit: April 2015 - July 2015
Project Title: Sound Science or Junk Science: Polish Sociology facing the Solidarity Movement (Solidarność).
Project Description: Polish sociologists in the early eighties observed a sudden and entirely unexpected appearance of a huge, long‐lasting and unprecedented in the Soviet Bloc social movement Solidarność (Solidarity movement). Renown researchers, who had been doing research on Polish society for over two decades, were able neither to predict the appearance of the movement, nor to explain it ex post. Polish sociology conducted methodologically advanced empirical research and inventive epistemological reflection. The discipline which was flourishing, facing the new social phenomenon, turned out to follow a 'degenerating research programme'. The aim of the project is to interpret this explanatory deficit in terms of philosphy of science.