Polish Rural Sociology in the Period of Political and Social Transformation

The aim of the present study is to attempt to evaluate the Polish rural sociology of development during the period referred to as a political and social transformation (1989–2019). The time of this transformation had brought up new and difficult challenges for the rural sociology, urging it to examine the social effects of the transition process in the rural society, moving from a totalitarian system to a democratic one, from centrally managed economy to market economy. Theoretical and methodological orientations, which prevailed throughout the entire period of changes, have been analyzed here by taking into consideration the most important publications, which appeared in Poland after 1989 under the banner of social research on countryside and agriculture. Moreover, attention was given to problem areas particularly intensely penetrated through empirical research such as: transformations in the agriculture as well as within the social and professional group of farmers, standard of living of rural residents, changes of the local rural communities. In the final part of the article, our attention was focused on the outlook and possibilities to confront the challenges of the future with regard to rural areas in the situation of constant weakening of the institutional base of the Polish rural sociology.