The Section of Sociology the Body of the Polish Sociological Association was established by the Main Board of the PSA in May 2019. In September of the same year, during the 17th National Sociological Congress in Wrocław, a founding and election meeting was held, during which the Section Board was appointed. Since then, the section has been operating to pursue the scientific interests of its members and supporters, e.g. by exchanging knowledge and research experience as part of Virtual Seminars of Sociology of the Body, online conferences and meetings. 

Although it is one of the younger subdisciplines of sociology, the sociology of the body has been developing dynamically over the last few decades and has entered the mainstream of sociological interests in an increasingly visible way. For over a decade, it has also been gaining importance in Polish sociology:   the growing number of publications, thematic issues of journals, research, conferences and thematic groups. An increasing number of researchers are interested in the social aspects of the functioning of the human body. 

The aim of the Section of Sociology of the Body is to strengthen the scientific identity of this subdiscipline in Poland and enable its effective development. The section operates in the following fields: 

1) promoting scientific knowledge in the field of the sociology of the body; 

2) cooperating with the sections of the Association that deal with related subdisciplines (sociology of health and medicine, sociology of disease, sociology of disability, sociology of gender); 

3) conducting research seminars presenting the problems of the body in sociological research; 

4) preparing publications that will enable a broad reception of the sociology of the body; 

5) organizing thematic sessions at sociological conferences; 

6) integrating the environment and exchanging methodological and empirical experiences, 

7) popularizing the research work of its members (in the field of sociology of the body and related fields); 

8) developing standards for providing students with knowledge in the field of sociology of the body. 

Board members:

Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek, PhD, University of Lodz, the chairwoman of the Section of Sociology of the Body in the Polish Sociological Association, an active researcher and passionate about active teaching. Main scientific interests: sociology of the body, sociology of work, qualitative research methods, symbolic interactionism. Author of “Body in Dance.  Sociological Perspective and co-author of “Behind the ward door. Ethnographic research in the hospital.”

Katarzyna Kowal, DHum in the field of sociology, assistant professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Jan Dlugosz University of Humanities and Sciences in Czestochowa. Her sociological interests include donation and transplantation of organs and external body parts; experiencing the ill, obese, disabled, reconstructed body; chronic diseases; rare genetic diseases; conditions for (non) compliance with medical recommendations by patients with end-stage organ failure. The author of the monograph “Between altruism and egoism. Socio-cultural determinants of family transplants” as well as over forty publications and more than a dozen research projects in the field of sociology of health, disease and medicine, in addition to the sociology of the body. 

Ewa Banaszak (dr hab.) – Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław. Author and co-author of works tackling the issue of corporeality. Qualitative researcher who is equally interested in the body and corporeality as well as a daily dress (Wrocław Fashion Project), participation in culture (evaluation of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016), and socio-emotional learning (international project “Building social and emotional skills to BOOST mental health resilience in children and young people in Europe”). Editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Fabrica Societatis. 

www:
http://socjologia-ciala.uni.lodz.pl/

Contact:byczkowska.owczarek@uni.lodz.pl