Suchergebnisse

One of the most visible features of contemporary political science, seen also in other social sciences are theoretical problems. They are nothing in this group of scietific disciplines. But new is their form. In second half of 20th century clasical scientific orientations as functionalism, structuralism, institutionalism, behaviouralism or system theory became the subject of critique of many social scientists. But in last decade of that century appeared renewed interest in those orientations of social thought. This article contains an analysis of Talcott Parsons view on social theory. The American sociologist during almost fifty years of scientific activity tried to build that, what he called general social theory. His concept of theory is very specific. Parsons understood it as a collection of logically interdependent generalized concepts of empirical sense. That means that theory is a conceptual outline. The bases of theory are analitycally understood facts, which have sense only in the frames of reference including: goals, means, resources, conditions, social norms, time and situation. Theory is for him a hierarchical category. It includes scientific results of different levels of generality. On the most general level he situated general theory. On next we have motivation theory. On third are comparative analyses of social structure. Fourth consists of particular theories. On the last level of theoretical systematization are relations between theory an research procedures.

This study offers a short introduction to the development of cities in general, their types, functions, position and points of differentiation. It stresses the importance of multifarious factors that determine the importance of particular entities. The main part of the study though is concerned with Polish cities. It takes into consideration their origins, geographical location, administrative and political importance, city reforms, demographic and economic factors as well as their functions and finance to assess the role and salience of different city categories. It analyses the impact of the aforementioned factors, especially of administrative and self-government reforms on self-government reforms, reflecting the international trend towards the unification of self-government system, have not led to the homogenization of cities in Poland, but that provisions introduced allow for individualisation of their internal structures and functions.