Open AccessRobert Michels — zapoznany klasyk socjologii
Author(s) -
Radomir Miński
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
kultura i społeczeństwo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2300-195X
pISSN - 0023-5172
DOI - 10.35757/kis.2017.61.4.9
Subject(s) - sociology , oligarchy , elitism , power (physics) , scholarship , patriotism , passion , context (archaeology) , citizenship , democracy , epistemology , social science , law , politics , political science , social psychology , psychology , history , philosophy , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics
Robert Michels (1876–1936) considered himself to be a disillusioned socialist, who, under the influence of elitism, rejected democracy and moved into the fascist camp. As a figure in sociology he is associated solely with the “iron law of oligarchy.” In Poland, it is a little-known fact that in Western social thought he is viewed as a socially engaged sociologist—a “genuine” researcher gifted with sociological imagination and a passion for scholarship. The aim of the author is to present Michels as a scholar in many areas: feminist issues, local patriotism in the context of national citizenship, phenomena of a general sociological nature, the history of Italy, and social movements. Furthermore, the author illustrates the German writer Timm Genett’s thesis that Michels should also be valued as a pioneer in the study of social movements, which he consistently examined in his analyses of organizations, systematically investigating the degeneration of social movements and the shifting of organizational aims.