Tying Micro and Macro ― What Fills Up the Sociological Vacuum?

This study critically discusses the thesis on the sociological vacuum formulated by Stefan Nowak. The author’s aim is to refute the claim that the sociological vacuum is relevant for major social processes occurring in Poland. He presents the sociological vacuum in the context of the debate on micro and macro levels and discusses how the theory of fields and social network analysis is useful to reconcile the micro-macro divide. The book considers the uses of the sociological vacuum in explaining such phenomena as the Solidarnosc social movement, civil society, social capital, and democracy. In the empirical part, the author confronts the data on identifications with the data on relations and claims that the vacuum is not in the society but it in sociology.

Mikolaj Pawlak is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Social Prevention and Resocialisation at the University of Warsaw and Vice-President of the Polish Sociological Association. His research interests concern new institutionalism, the labor market, migration, and the sociology of knowledge.