Ponowoczesny autorytet, czyli los autorytetu w czasach implozji struktur społecznych
Postmodern Authority, or the Fate of Authority in Times of Structural Implosion

Summary/Abstract: RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This article aims to analyze the concept of authority in the context of postmodern societal transformations. The research question is as follows: How does authority restructures itself, adapting to the requirements of postmodernity? THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The article is of a theoretical nature. The study employs a conceptual-argumentative method, involving the reconstruction of classical understandings of authority and the subsequent identification of its contemporary reconfigurations. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Initially, the traditional notion of authority is analyzed, with particular attention to its association with concepts such as ethos and charisma. A key distinction is drawn between personal and institutional forms of authority, supported by an exploration of related constructs including the authoritarian conscience, the authoritarian personality, and authoritarianism. The next step is the confrontation of classical structure of authority with the postmodern requirements that lead to its relativisation and individualisation. This new structure is defined in the context of such notions as habitus and internalised normative pressures, and its understanding is supported by characteristics of postmodern normative assumptions. RESEARCH RESULTS: The result of the analysis is a new structure of authority, which allows us to demonstrate the pedagogical relevance of the concept of authority in times of implosion of social structures. The result of the analysis thus contributes to the theory of sociology of education. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The findings underscore the challenges and possibilities inherent in cultivating authority within a postmodern context marked by normative pluralism and the erosion of stable value systems. The article ends with recommendations concerning the formation of authority in the postmodern circumstances, what is revealed in the process of socialization.

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