Historical consciousness of Polish workers. Theoretical problems and their empirical application

The present text consists of four parts: I. Humanistic version of social consciousness studies; II. Remarks on autobiographical material; III. A notion of historical consciousness; IV. Mainstreams in a study of workers' historical consciousness in the light of 1981 competition. The first three parts of the article contain a theoretical analysis of notions of social consciousness, historical consciousness and of their study methods. The reference was made to the classics of Polish humanistic sociology Florian Znaniecki and Józef Chałasiński on purpose to present topicality of their theoretical findings. The part four of the article is the empirical study of historical consciousness of Polish workers. It is founded on the material originating from the 1981 competition for the worker's autobiography organized by the Institute of Sociology of the University of Adam Mickiewicz. For types of diarists can be differentiated on account of the type of historical consciousness revealed (contents of three elements, past, present and future); 1) those who posess all the elements of historical consciousness, 2) the authors lacking a past dimension of consciousness:, 3) persons possesing only the past element, 4) all those lacking historical consciousness. Several factors can also be distinguished on account of their effect on a shape historical consciousness of an individual: 1) membership of certain social circles: family, school, military service, professional milieu, territorial groups, political organizations, religious groups, 2) participation in social processes (particularly in process of social mobility), 3) forms of transmission of historical consciousness (mass media, reading).Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201