A L i n a s z r e m s k I

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A L I N A   S Z R E M S K I

Malinowski Before Anthropology: 

Examining the Significance of His 

Polish Education

B

ronisław Malinowski is widely credited as the father of the functionalist school 

of anthropology. His contributions resulted in a new paradigm of fieldwork 

that was more involved and detailed than the ethnographical work of the past. 

England claims Malinowski had a significant role in developing British social an-

thropology; American anthropologists also claim his influence, due to his presence 

at Yale after the start of WWII. While his anthropological impact in other coun-

tries was immediate, it wasn’t until many years after his death that his work began to 

influence the social sciences in Poland—the country where he received the bulk of 

his formative education. The ideological foundations of Malinowski’s theories can be 

traced back to positivist and modernist ideologies. Positivism and modernism often 

contradict each other, but their contradictions are discarded and their similarities mar-

ried in Malinowski’s work. From positivism, Malinowski evolved his precise, exact, and 

methodical field work and formed half the foundation of his idea of functionalism; 

from modernism, Malinowski gained the idea of participant-observation and the rest 

of his functionalist theory. It has to be understood that this mixture of positivism and 

modernism comes from the unique character of Polish academia. Malinowski’s work 

must be understood within a distinctly Polish context.

Positivism is a broad term that applies to many fields such as law, politics, interna-

tional relations, and sociology, though it takes its roots in philosophy. It can be briefly 

defined as the belief that the only knowledge that has any authority is positive knowl-

edge, drawn exclusively from empirical evidence gathered through observation of the 

physical world. The emphasis is on knowledge that can be verified empirically—thus, 

everything derived from introspection, intuition, or other unverifiable methods, is re-

jected. While positivism was already germinating in schools of Polish liberalism, the 

theory solidified in the consciousness of the nation after the January Uprising of 1863 

against the Russian Empire and the rebellion’s subsequent defeat in 1864.

Poland had been sovereign up until the First Partition of Poland in 1772, when the 

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growing Russian, Austrian, and Prussian empires split up Polish land between them-

selves in an attempt to regain equilibrium of the power dynamics between the three 

countries. A second partition happened in 1793, and the final partition in 1975 marked 

the official end of Polish sovereignty. The country then lived under different spheres of 

foreign rule for 123 years, during which the three empires tried to crush Polish iden-

tity and reestablish their respective identities in Poland. However, the Polish people 

desired freedom from their oppressors. This resulted in several uprisings, with the two 

most notable being the November Uprising of 1830-31 and the January Uprising of 

1863-64. Both uprisings failed—these defeats and the subsequent repressions they re-

sulted in, coupled with the history of occupation, created a fear within Poland of Polish 

identity being lost to a stronger country and created a sense of urgency to solidify the 

Polish character (Corwin 1917).

After their military losses in January, Poland still did not give up trying to win its 

freedom; instead, Poland changed its focus from liberation through military to libera-

tion through education, and to the significance of its academic and cultural contribu-

tions. Here is where positivism comes to the forefront in Poland, largely through the 

theory of organic work—praca organiczna—which Adam Bromke, in his article “The 

‘Znak’ Group in Poland” defines as “the internal strengthening of the Polish nation 

through extensive socio-economic reforms” (Bromke 88). Maciej Janowski explains 

Ludwik Powidaj and his push towards organic work. Powidaj, following the second 

Polish defeat in 1864, wrote Polacy i Indianie (“Poles and Indians”) as a program outlin-

ing this concept of organic work. He urged Poles to engage in trade and industry, to 

strive to become “co-builders of civilization,” to increase the national wealth, and to 

revitalize the lower classes. Powidaj places a strong emphasis on practical, pragmatic 

direction ( Janowski 147-8). Organic work resulted from the schools of positivism—

just as knowledge holds no weight if it cannot be verified with empirical data, inde-

pendence cannot be gained unless measurable, practical steps are taken to bolster the 

foundations of Poland.

Positivism was integral in shaping the ideology of Poland, and was especially im-

portant when it came to founding and supporting a national identity in the face of 

Germanization and Russianization. Hence, schools of positivism were widespread in 

the Polish intelligentsia, and it is under this academic climate that Branislow Ma-

linowski was educated. Malinowski attended Jagiellonian University starting in 1902. 

He originally studied math and natural science, but graduated in 1908 with his doctor-

ate in philosophy. There were three philosophy professors in particular that worked 

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closely with Malinowski: Maurycy Straszewski, Wladyslaw Heinrich, and Stefan 

Pawlicki. Andrzej Flis, in his article “Cracow Philosophy and Malinowski’s Scientific 

Ideas,” gives a brief background for each professor. While each professor has a wealth 

of accomplishments and a diverse body of work, their scope can be reduced to three 

main areas relating to philosophy. Pawlicki and Heinrich studied the history of Greek 

philosophy; Straszewski, Pawlicki, and Heinrich all studied the history of modern phi-

losophy; and Straszewski studied the history of Polish philosophy (Flis 108-13).

The study of the history of modern philosophy and history of Polish philosophy 

means all three professors had a foundation in positivism. Straszewski was a propo-

nent of empirio-criticism (reducing knowledge to observational experience) and drew 

from both Ernst Mach and Richard Avenarius for his work. Mach’s work includes 

logical positivism, and Avenarius’ work includes radical positivism, which developed 

into empirio-criticism. Heinrich also studied Mach and Avenarius closely—he ap-

plied positivism to psychology and rejected the current metaphysical tendencies of 

psychological experiments. His psychological experiments were based on experience 

and methodology. Pawlicki’s positivism was probably the most integral to his work as 

a professor. He definitely started as a positivist, but ended his career as a theologian, 

though still endeavoring to include scientific findings and the spirit of empiricism 

within his theological work (Flis 108-13).

This educational framework of positivism can be seen in the foundations of Ma-

linowski’s work. Working so closely with positivism introduced Malinowski to the gen-

eral positivist disdain towards introspection, the desire for empirical data, and Mach’s 

ideas of function. These ideas evolved into Malinowski’s anthropological functionalism 

and the extensive field work that Malinowski details in Argonauts of the Western Pa-

cific. Malinowski devotes the first chapter of this book to explaining his observational 

methods, prefacing this with a section on the importance of having precise records of 

all observational data—a thought that can be traced back to Malinowski’s positivist 

roots in Poland. On his methodology, Malinowski writes:

Each phenomenon ought to be studied through the broadest range possible of its 

concrete manifestations; each studied by an exhaustive survey of detailed examples. 

If possible, the results ought to be tabulated into some sort of synoptic chart, both to 

be used as an instrument of study, and to be presented as an ethnological document. 

With the help of such documents and such study of actualities the clear outline 

of the framework of the native’s culture in the widest sense of the word, and the 

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constitution of their society, can be presented. This method could be called the method 

of statistic documentation by concrete evidence. (17)

This insistence on exhaustive research, empirical data, and concrete evidence assort-

ed into charts and documents clearly stems from the positivist view that the knowledge 

gained through exact studies of the sensory world is the best knowledge. Flis, who 

studied Malinowski’s philosophy dissertation extensively, notes this tendency: “the 

most ‘popular’ feature [of positivism], is the disgust with metaphysics (as the least 

economical knowledge). Malinowski considered the emphasis on this feature to be the 

best point of departure in his dissertation” (Flis 115). Clearly, Malinowski latched on to 

this idea of empirical data over metaphysical knowledge and incorporated it into his 

field work—just as one of Malinowski’s professors, Heinrich, dismissed experimental 

psychology as too metaphysical, and designed psychological experiments that were 

based on pure experience.

This desire for concrete, objective data seems to stem from another positivist 

principle which would later be developed into Malinowski’s theory of anthropologi-

cal functionalism—which is defined as culture being created to serve man’s biologi-

cal needs. This functionalism starts in Malinowski’s dissertation and his discussion of 

Mach. Mach proposes that phenomena should be observed in relation to their end. 

Malinowski rejects this; Flis summarizes Malinowski’s view thus:

They [phenomena] should be seen from the viewpoint of their functions. [. . .] 

function is understood as the manner in which one variable depends on another. So 

the concept of ‘function’ which appears in the doctoral dissertation ‘On the principle 

of economy of thought’ denotes a certain dependence or interdependence, and not 

the orientation towards ends. (119)

Malinowski explains this relationship in his philosophy dissertation—he says op-

erations such as thinking or reminding (the first variable) serve to achieve the best 

position (the second variable) for the individual, and this interdependent relationship 

is achieved only when reality is reflected as accurately as possible.

Hence the need for objective data. To again point out the previous quote from 

Malinowski’s Argonauts, Malinowski is making the case that accurate records of reality 

in the form of objective data are the best way to draw conclusions and represent the 

whole of native life and customs. Thus, Malinowski’s field work is twice inspired by 

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positivism—once by the general requirement of verifiable knowledge, and again by the 

functional nature of knowledge.

However, before these elements of Machian functionalism can evolve fully into 

Malinowski’s anthropological functionalism, Malinowski has to amend this positivist 

view with a myriad of modernistic influences. A brief outline of modernism in Poland 

and its effect on Malinowski must first be given.

In opposition to positivism, modernism was another prevalent theory in Polish 

academics. Modernism, like positivism, is a wide theory that has many branches, but 

can be reduced to the sentiment that a growing industrial world requires new schools 

of thought, new art techniques, and general innovation and improvements on past 

traditions. The modernist movement that influenced Malinowski was known in Po-

land as the Young Poland movement. The Young Poland movement was primarily 

aesthetic and centered around the arts and literature—it was largely a response to the 

widespread positivism in Poland. Jan Jerschina explains that modernism was just as 

prevalent as positivism in Polish intelligentsia—so the academic circles Malinowski 

was educated in, as outlined above, would have introduced Malinowski to modernism, 

as well. Jerschina explains:

Malinowski’s process of socialization and acculturation was influenced by the Polish 

intelligentsia of the 1900-14 period, at the very time when this group had already 

internalized the ethos appearing as the amalgamation of positivist and modernist 

ideas. [. . .] in those years positivism no longer existed as a living cultural movement, 

but modernism still produced new and interesting intellectual and aesthetic 

phenomena. (131)

The Young Poland movement brought with it a keen interest and fascination with 

culture. The intellectuals of this movement were primarily interested in culture as re-

lated to a national identity, in light of 123 years of repressed Polish identity.

This led to many academics moving to and living in peasant areas and even marry-

ing peasant women. The fascination with peasantry rises from the notion that the daily 

life of the peasant holds vital cultural information essential to Polish identity—the 

emphasis is on what the peasant life can show about the present and what it can predict 

about the future of Poland. The modernist involvement with the peasantry is clearly re-

flected in Malinowski’s work with the natives. Timothy J. Cooley, in his article “Theo-

rizing fieldwork impact: Malinowski, peasant-love and friendship,” describes this study 

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of peasant life. He calls it “peasant-love.”

Stanislaw Witkiewicz, Malinowski’s closest friend, built a villa in Zakopane, a vil-

lage in the Tatra Mountain. This villa, like Zakopane itself, was an artist’s colony, a hot 

bed for modernist ideas to incubate. Tatra Mountain is the scene where “peasant-love” 

took place. Cooley describes the Young Poland followers and their relations with the 

peasants of Poland as follows:

Peasant-love ideology is characterized by an emphasis on the present (and hopes 

for the future) and requires relatively intense relationships with the people whose 

cultural practices are studied. [. . .] The emphasis on the present rather than history 

was key to peasant-love ideology and had a profound impact on Malinowski’s 

functionalism, which focused on the ethnographic present. (8)

This is almost an exact mirror of the participant-observation that Malinowski 

champions in his Argonauts of the Western Pacific. On having intense relationships with 

the subjects of study, Malinowski writes:

It is good for the Ethnographer sometimes to put aside camera, note book and 

pencil, and to join in himself in what is going on. He can take part in the native’s 

games, he can follow them on their visits and walks, sit down and listen and share 

in their conversations. [. . .] Out of such plunges into the life of the natives [. . .] I 

have carried away a distinct feeling that their behavior, their manner of being, in all 

sorts of tribal transactions, became more transparent and easily understandable than 

it had been before. (21-2)

Just as the Polish modernists in Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains lived closely 

with their subjects, so did Malinowski. The influence of Malinowski’s participant-ob-

servation came directly from his experience with the Polish modernists. Furthermore, 

this modernist emphasis on experiencing culture coexists perfectly with Malinowski’s 

positivist tendencies of empirical knowledge and data. The precise recordings of tribal 

life are supplemented and explained by the lived experiences of the ethnographer; 

the lived experiences are then made sense of through analysis of the charts and data. 

Malinowski’s work is the culmination and blend of both positivism and modernism.

Furthermore, now that modernism has been introduced, Malinowski’s idea of an-

thropological functionalism can be completed. From positivism, Malinowski gets the 

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generic relationship that one variable is dependent on another; he fleshes this out in 

his dissertation to say that man’s position in society is dependent upon his biological 

needs. Modernism, then, taught Malinowski the power of the individual. Jan Jerschi-

na gives the example of the modernist treatment of history, writing that modernists 

greatly attributed the creation of history to the work of the individual. Malinowski 

agrees with the modernist view of history, and takes it one step further and applies this 

modernist emphasis on the individual to the creation of culture.

Jerschina writes that Malinowski believes “the real historical agent is an individual 

human being, with a specific personality, motivated by specific needs and emotions [. . 

.] The same holds true for cultural communities, tribes and nations. [. . .] Malinowski 

put forward his concept of man as a free creator of culture” ( Jerschina 135). Malinowski 

is combining the positivist functionalism from Mach with the modernist emphasis on 

the individual to put forth that culture has been created by man to satisfy biological 

needs. This concept of anthropological functionalism can be inferred from this passage 

from Argonauts: 

Indeed, if we remember that these imponderable yet all important facts of actual 

life are part of the real substance of the social fabric, that in them are spun the 

innumerable threads which keep together the family, the clan, the village community, 

the tribe—their significance becomes clear. (18)

The “imponderable, yet important” facts of life would be man’s daily life and the 

satisfaction of daily needs—the process of fulfilling these needs is what, in turn, creates 

culture and society.

Malinowski’s fieldwork—his zealous recording of it and his immersion in native 

life—were formed by positivistic and modernistic roots. Malinowski’s functionalist 

school of anthropology was likewise inspired from the same background. The elements 

of positivism and modernism and Malinowski’s subsequent blending of them is a re-

sult of the Polish context in which he was educated. Positivism took a strong hold in 

Poland due to the spread of organic work, which itself sprang from the national desire 

for freedom from foreign rule. Since freedom couldn’t be gained through the military, 

positivism and organic work were the means to obtain that freedom. Modernism in 

Poland took the form of the Young Poland movement and was formed as a response to 

positivism. The modernists took a Romantic approach to life and rejected the empiri-

cism of positivism—but Malinowski was in close contact with both of these theories. 

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His professors from Krakow were the positivist influence, and the artists he fraternized 

with at the art haven known as Zakopane were the modernist influence. Thus, we see 

the essentials of Malinowski’s work are deeply rooted in a Polish context.

Works Referenced

Bromke, Adam. “The ‘Znak’ Group in Poland.” Poland Since 1956. Ardent, 1972. 80-94.

Cooley, Timothy J. “Theorizing Fieldwork Impact: Malinowski, Peasant‐love and 

Friendship.” Taylor & Francis Online. 31 May 2008. 

Corwin, E. H. L. The Political History of Poland. New York: PBI, 1917. .

Flis, Andrzej. “Cracow Philosophy of the Beginning of the Twentieth Century 

and the Rise of Maliowski’s Scientific Ideas.” Ed. R. F. Ellen. Malinowski 

between Two Worlds: The Polish Roots of an Anthropological Tradition. Cambridge: 

Cambridge UP, 1988. 

Janowski, Maciej. Polish Liberal Thought Before 1918. Budapest: CEUP, 2002.

Jerschina, Jan. “Polish Culture of Modernism and Malinowski’s Personality.” 

Malinowski between Two Worlds: The Polish Roots of an Anthropological Tradition. 

Ed. R. F. Ellen. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. 128-48.

Malinowski, Bronisław. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E.P. Dutton, 

1960. .