Introduction

This title was first published in 1978. How far have sociologists working in countries commonly designated as "socialist" gone in studying the class structure and social consciousness of their own societies? What kinds of questions have they posed, and what is the degree of technical sophistication applied in answering them? Western sociologists interested in the fate of their discipline in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have long recognized that the answers to these questions will differ substantially depending upon which particular socialist society one has in mind. The selection from Polish sociological literature brought together here by Stomczynski and Krauze should help to answer the questions raised and provide readers with the opportunity to assess the quality of Polish sociological studies in the areas of class structure, social mobility, and class consciousness.