Education in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was primarily held in colleges led by Jesuits and Piarists. There were disputes between them -- regarding both the content and methods of teaching, as well as the prestige of the institutions and teachers employed in them. The competition at the symbolic level of two orders was also unitary -- in the…

Agency theory is a theoretical platform used primarily to describe processes related to corporate governance. However, the theory is also being used to describe the processes associated with the functioning of the higher education system. Contractual relationships in this sector make it possible to identify the institutions that may act as either…

This article explores the implications for Christian religious education of the theory of moral virtues formulated by Thomas Aquinas and developed by the contemporary Neo-Thomists. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part introduces Thomistic virtue theory and presents cardinal virtues crucial for Thomistic ethics: prudence, justice,…

In this article, we address the issue of participation in adult education building on the cultural capital framework. This theoretical framework suggests that (educational) practices are affected by one's social background and, more precisely, by the cultural resources handed down in the family context. To examine the validity of this theoretical…

This paper examines long-term changes in the persistence of overeducation among individual workers, focusing on the relationship between the rate of those changes and the general economic situation. All analyses are based on data from the Polish Panel Survey (POLPAN) conducted throughout the post-communist transition period, 1988-2008. The results…

The concept of heterotopia challenges political theory, which has often focused on utopic thinking. Foucault describes a heterotopia as a heterogenous space that juxtaposes in a single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible. Streets, squares and parks form heterotopias when their utopic purity as public space…

A survey of the theoretical problems connected with the organization and design of systems for processing and transmitting information is presented in this article. It gives a definition of Information Systems (IS) and classifies them from various points of view. It discusses briefly the most important aspects of the organization of IS, such as…

The history of library science in Poland and a number of Polish research projects are reviewed in this paper. It is concluded that a considerable amount of research has been done on the history of libraries in Poland, but that this research is fragmented and separated by its focus on theory or methodology. The methodology of scientific research in…

The communicative dimensions of the labor crisis in Poland are examined in this paper in terms of Jurgen Habermas's theory of legitimation crisis and Niklas Luhmann's theory of power as a communication medium. Specifically, the paper analyzes three communication strategies that have marked the development and decline of the Soviet Union's control…

Inequality of access to schools of various types can be conceived in at least four different ways: (1) inequality of participation (re: national social composition); (2) inequality of utilization of intellectual potential (re: the ablest from all strata); (3) inequality of chance (re: those who desire an education, regardless of potential); (4)…

This book, which focuses on the relationship between adult education institutions and social movements, contains 31 papers originally presented at a 1998 conference on the history of adult education. Following an Introduction (Cooke), the papers are: Mobilisation, Popular Participation and Sustainable Development: Themes in the Recent History of…