Recherche scientifique contre bureaucratisme en Pologne

In: Revue d'études comparatives est-ouest: RECEO, Band 7, Heft 1, S. 185-210

Abstract

Academic Research Versus Bureaucratization in Poland.
There has been a substantial growth of the research potential in Poland, and the ambitions of many Poles are focused on it. The state primarily supports the applied research oriented towards the demands of industrialization. On the other hand the scientific culture and tradition remain so far mostly in the framework of higher education and of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Bureaucratization is one of the major obstacles in the development of scientific research. There is too much emphasis on institutionalization, and the spontaneous character of the scientific creativity is not adequately acknowledged by the authorities. On the other hand the academic circles have much more freedom than people employed in other fields, and the scientists enjoy a high prestige among the population. Their incomes are relatively good, but still their living standards on average are much lower than in the West. The growth of professional aspirations and general expectations of the scientists quite often outstrips the bureaucratized reality of the research establishment. It is the main source of their general dissatisfaction which leads from time to time to the individual or collective criticism of the existing conditions or even of the political system; as in the case of a memorandum signed by 59 leading scientists and intellectuals in 1975 who demanded the democratization of Poland.