The Chicago School through a Polish lens: Krzysztof Czekaj’s legacy in urban sociology

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dc.contributor.authorKaucz, Błażej
dc.date.accessioned2026-10-20T15:56:01Z
dc.date.available2026-10-20T15:56:01Z
dc.date.issued2025-07-04
dc.description.abstractThis paper honours the late Professor Krzysztof Czekaj (1958–2024), a pioneering figure in Polish urban sociology. Czekaj was the first scholar to extensively explore the Chicago School in Polish, and his seminal 2007 book, The Sociology of the Chicago School and Its Reception in Poland (Czekaj, 2007), meticulously explored the historical context and contributions of this influential school of thought. He critically evaluated its enduring legacy. Maps played a central role in Prof. Czekaj’s work. Inspired by the work of William I. Thomas, Florian Znaniecki, and Jane Addams, Czekaj adopted Chicago School methodologies, particularly the use of maps and personal documents, to investigate crime in Poland, especially in the Silesian region. He placed particular emphasis on periods of economic hardship and social transformation, notably after the collapse of communism in 1989. His research focused on local and urban issues by employing social mapping to examine and address social problems in Poland. Throughout his career, he mentored countless sociology and social work students. His book on the Chicago School (viewed over 7,300 times on Academia.edu) continues to shape the field. This paper explores how the Chicago School tradition informed Czekaj’s work. It will examine how he adapted Chicago School methods (Park, 1915) to the Polish context (Czekaj, 1992, 2007), using archival court documents to map social factors such as alcohol abuse, unemployment, and crime in Silesian cities. These projects resulted in the publication of Atlases of Social Problems for various Silesian cities (1995–2012) and Local Strategies to Solve Social Problems (1997–2015). Both monographic series are collectively known as the Silesian Cities Series. By analysing Czekaj’s work, we gain a valuable Polish perspective on the global history of the Chicago School.en
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.extent16
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.authororcidKaucz, Błażej§0000-0003-1778-2283
dc.identifier.citationKaucz, B 2025, 'The Chicago School through a Polish lens: Krzysztof Czekaj’s legacy in urban sociology', American Sociologist, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 180-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-025-09661-7
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s12108-025-09661-7
dc.identifier.endpage195
dc.identifier.issn0003-1232
dc.identifier.issued1
dc.identifier.journaltitleAmerican Sociologist
dc.identifier.startpage180
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19471
dc.identifier.volume57
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105009608771
dc.rights© 2025, author. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectChicago School
dc.subjectKrzysztof Czekaj
dc.subjectPoland
dc.subjectSocial problems
dc.subjectUrban sociology
dc.subject[OVPLT]
dc.titleThe Chicago School through a Polish lens: Krzysztof Czekaj’s legacy in urban sociologyen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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