CENTER FOR FAMILY AND DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
The development of countries is not limited to economic issues alone – cultural and social advancement, based on the foundation of demographic growth, are at least equivalent components of this process. However, demographic development is not possible without restoring the importance of the family as the basic and most important social institution, as it was understood for centuries by the thinkers who formed the basic concepts of our civilization, such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. The lack of demographic development and the breakdown of the family constitutes a vast socio-economic cost. These costs are borne by the state to counteract the effects of this phenomenon (especially in countries where the idea of the welfare state is strongly developed) and manifest themselves in opportunity costs – human attractiveness, productivity, but also investment or consumption potential. The collapse of the family, the basic cell of society, is first and foremost a threat to the cultural and, in the long run, formal cohesion and existence of each country as an individual, independent entity. As part of the work of the Center for Family and Demographic Research, we will conduct socio-demographic research, as well as propose systemic and legal solutions to support the family at both the national and international levels.
Areas of research:
- the economic impact of marriage and the proper functioning of the family, taking into account the implications for the market and state finances – this topic has already been addressed in the first volume of the Collegium Intermarium Reports series – a report on the costs of family and marriage breakdown;
- demographic crisis in the context of religiosity and secularization of Western societies;
- the effectiveness of various state policies, regulations, and actions in stimulating demographic growth;
- the impact of family structure on the well-being and health of individuals;
• implications of different models of upbringing for the well-being of individuals and their ability to cope with difficulties and take on the responsibilities of adulthood in the context of starting a family, getting a job, and being able to lead the state.
prof. Ewa Budzyńska
Director of the Center for Family and Demographic Research
professor emeritus at the University of Silesia; psychologist and sociologist.
From 1991 until 2020, she was a researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Silesia in Katowice. In February 2020, she left the University of Silesia in protest against intolerance and discrimination directed against academics who were opposed to leftist-gender ideology and the introduction of ideological censorship at the university.
Ewa Budzyńska’s scientific and research interests focused on topics related to: 1) the sociology of morality (concepts of moral order and pro-social attitudes, transformations of moral values), 2) the sociology of the family (transformations of modern families and their macro-social and cultural conditions, the concept of intergenerational ties in the family), and 3) the sociology of religion (transformations of religiosity in Polish society), were reflected in scientific publications such as monographs: “Ład moralny w zmieniającym się społeczeństwie. Socjologiczne studium wartości moralnych mieszkańców Katowic” (“Moral Order in a Changing Society. Sociological study of moral values of the residents of Katowice”) – Katowice 2007 and “Międzypokoleniowe więzi w rodzinie. Studium socjologiczne rodzin polskich i słowackich” (“Intergenerational Ties in the Family. A sociological study of Polish and Slovak families”) – Katowice 2018.
SCIENCE RESEARCH
- social research: causes and costs of family breakdown;
- comparative analysis of family policies in North America, Europe and Asia;
- a catalog of good family policy practices in cooperation with the United Nations.
