Polish Catholicism between Tradition and Migration

This book examines the manner and the extent to which religion is shaped by modernity. Employing a critical realist perspective, it draws on the notion of reflexivity to consider the changes brought about in Polish Catholicism in the light of profound social and cultural shifts in the country's recent history.

From a critical realist perspective, this book examines the manner and the extent to which religion is shaped by modernity. With a focus on Poland, one of the most monolithic and religiously active Catholic societies in the world - but which has undergone periods of intense transformation in its recent history - the author explores the transformations that have affected Catholicism from a position of reflexivity. Viewing Catholicism as a system of ideas elaborated by tradition, the author considers the relationship between human subjectivity and social structure by examining the shift from traditional religious practice to modern religious observance, particularly in an era of migration in which many Polish Catholics have relocated to western European countries, with profound changes in their religious outlook. Presenting a new approach to understanding religious change from the perspective of religious reflexivity, Polish Catholicism between Tradition and Migration will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in religion, research methods, social change and critical realist thought.

Autorentext

Wojciech Sadlon is Director of the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, Poland, and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Humanities, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

Inhalt

Foreword by Margaret Scotford Archer Introduction PART 1: Theoretical 1. Religion - between subjectivity and structure 2. Religious identity from the perspective of critical realism PART 2: Empirical 3. Traditional Polish religiosity 4. Modern Polish society and religious identity 5. Migration and the shaping of religious identity Epilogue