Jak badać dynamikę i konflikt w społeczeństwie polskim

The aim of the article is not to criticise the dominant in Polish sociology of the late 1970s and the early 1980s concepts of social structure and dynamics but to outline proposals for further research and explanation. The first, author discusses the concepts of social structure, conflict and dynamics. The stress is on the activist and relationist concept of structure. Conflict is analysed in three dimensions: behavioral, psychological-attitudinal, and structural. Dynamics is also analysed in three dimensions: changes in the distribution of various social characteristics; social processes; and the stages of development of socialism. The second part discusses theoretical and methodological orientations in Polish macrosociology until the mid-1980s. The third chapter suggests that new research programs should take into account the following perspectives: 1) classic Marxian analysis of social structure, contradictions, and revolutions, 2) contemporary structural Western Marxism, 3) modern conflict theory, 4) critical theory of society, 5) conservative social theory stressing social costs of excessive role of the state, and 6) the elites theories.