Books, monuments, and shadows. Maria and Stanisław Ossowscy

ABSTRACT

The article develops the editors’ thesis that women researchers in social sciences are less recognized than their well-known husbands. It focuses on the example of the marriage of Maria and Stanisław Ossowski. The selected couple issue is a complex one due to the specificity of both researchers’ situation. One should consider that they worked in various academic disciplines (Stanisław as a sociologist, Maria as a researcher of morality closer to ethics). The next issue is career development's pace opposite the central thesis's expected rate – Maria promoted faster. Another problem is the difference in temperaments and the style of scientific work. Finally, one cannot omit the context of the history of Poland. Especially pivotal are significant social changes: regaining Poland's independence after the partition and establishing new Polish universities and faculties and, the second one, social change during the communist period. Regardless of some advantages of Maria, the example of the Ossowski couple in many dimensions confirms the problem of obstacles to women's academic development, and as a result – their lower recognition in the academic community.

KEYWORDS:

• Sociology & philosophy
• social change
• masculine domination
• meritocracy
• personality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Intelligence is a social layer characteristic of Eastern Europe. It often cames from impoverished nobility forced to work, trying to build a lost social position with the help of educational capital. Both in this group and the progressive aristocracy socialist elements have been strong since the period of positivism. See. Chałasiński (1946). In the same years, Ossowska would take a closer look at the issue of intelligence in the article Polish Intelligent Against the Background of Social Groups of Western Europe, Ossowska (1947).

2 The story of Elżbieta Neymanowa during the evening of memories of 8.09.2016 during the Conference "Morality - cooperation - independence" - Institute of Philosophy of the University of Zielona Góra.

3 I met (MTZ) with the opinion of an eminent Polish expert on British thought, who recently reached for this work for the first time and said: "but it is a decent historical job!" Similarly, but about the essay The Citizen's Model was expressed by the contemporary and prominent historian of ideas Marcin Król. See: https://youtu.be/NaGwRgbbQf4.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Monika Kwiecińska-Zdrenka

Dr Monika Kwiecińska-Zdrenka works at Institute of Sociology at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Her main research areas are sociology of youth, sociology of public sphere, sociology of Eastern Europe.

Marcin T. Zdrenka

Marcin T. Zdrenka is hablitated doctor, holds profesor position at Institute of Philosophy at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. His main research interests are virtue ethics, history of morality, philosophy of evil.