The Paradigm of Research on Political Culture in Poland

In this text, we analyse the Polish tradition of research on political culture from the perspective of paradigm development and identify the paradigm that has developed as a result of the efforts of scholars representing political science, sociology and other social science disciplines. As a central analytical tool, we adopt a paradigm development pattern that is essentially inspired by the concepts of Ludwig Fleck and Thomas Kuhn. The individual stages of this development are as follows: a) preliminary stage; b) introduction of methodological and theoretical premises; c) deepening of a theory; d) modifications of a theory; e) applications of a theory; f) criticism of a theory. Such an approach also allows one to see the theories that have fallen outside the paradigm of Polish research on political culture, as well as to better understand the directions of thought of political scientists operating within the said paradigm. The text shows not so much the chronology of the conducted research as the logic of pursuing scientific inquiry.