This article has been inspired by the work of Andrzej Walicki. The author of The Slavophile controversy: History of a conservative utopia in the nineteenth‑century Russian thought (1975) explored several worldviews and pointed to various similarities among several thinkers. The article discusses and compares the views of Russian neo‑Slavophiles and Western traditionalists (J. Evola, R. Guénon, P. Sorokin). The author of the article brings to light the main assumptions of the conservative and traditionalist utopias: a struggle against rationalism, individualism, liberalism and capitalism.

The article presents the work of Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid in the context of writers born in 1821 (Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoevsky). The author compares Flowers of Evil to Vade mecum of Polish poet. Such a comparision reveals the innovation of Norwid’s form, but this innovation is accompanied by traditional ideas. This traditionalism is evident as well in poet’s dramatic works. The author tries to answer the question why Norwid’s plays have never been successful on stage which is the case of Pierścień Wielkiej Damy ( A Ring of a Geat Lady). The play is very well constructed, but its ending can raise doubts concerning a psychological probability. The play’s main faults are poet’s hermetic language and a verse form: a blank verse inspired by Shakespeare and difficult to present on stage in Polish language.

The article discusses views and the ideological evolution carried out by Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin, a Russian-American sociologist, philosopher and political activist. Influenced by his observations of the events of 1917, Sorokin radically reformulated his opinions about Marx and Marxism which resulted in his espousing of a traditionalist and anti-revolutionary position. He still shared with Marx his negative diagnosis of the modern world, but proposed a different solution as a remedy. His solution was a purification of the idea of equality by liberating it from reductive materialism. Nevertheless Sorokin’s concept of spiritual equality was as utopian as Marx’s. He presented his ideas in a littleknown novel titled: Предтеча (or Прачечная человеческих душ – ‘предтеча’ means ‘ancestor’ and is commonly referred to John the Baptist). This work is a signal for Sorokin’s denial of Marx’s ideas and his revolutionary zeal.

The aim of the paper is to analyze the political trajectory of changes in Saudi Arabia during the reign of Prince Muhammad Ibn Salman and the effects it has on the traditional and conservative values of the Saudi kingdom. The point of reference for the prince’s reform policy is the Vision 2030 project of changes announced in 2016, which aims to maintain a balance between modernization, including economic reforms, privatization and cultural initiatives, on the one hand, and Islam and political authoritarianism on the other. The structure of my article is built around the hypothesis that assumes that the reformist policy of Muhammad Ibn Salman is aimed at improving the economic and social conditions of Saudi Arabia in order to obtain social legitimization and loyalty and in the long term to ensure regime survival and its stability. I have posed three research questions which are as follows: 1) Can traditionalism and modernization be combined? 2) What is the impact of the authoritarian regime on modernization policy? 3) How has the relationship between the political authority and the Wahhabi establishment changed?

One of the most common and dangerous conflicts in contemporary democracies is related to cultural differences in understanding of the basic principles of social organization. Such conflict is developing also in Poland. Its most recent manifestation is the serious confrontation between the new appointed Minister of Education and Science of the Polish government and the large part of the Polish scientific community. In the first part of the paper, I analyze on the basis of his publication the minister’s socio-political worldview. I am implying that it may explain his conflict arousing policy. I am focusing on his concept of the natural law and his use of this concept, on his understandings of democracy and secular state, and on his interpretation of minority rights in democracy. I am concluding that he represents the ultraconservative (right-wing) version of the Roman Catholic worldview and is trying to impose its implications on the Polish education as well as scientific institutions. In the second part of the paper, I am analyzing sociopsychological preconditions of cultural conflicts and factors that may determine the radicalization of these conflicts.

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of technology, time and costs of three methods of building a single-family house; traditional brick, reinforced concrete prefabrication and timber frame. The goal of this study was to determine if prefabricated and timber frame building methods and materials have the potential to replace traditional method of construction in the context of cost and time. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis was performed, including a list of benefits of each of the analysed construction technologies and a quantitative analysis in which the cost of finished houses per 1 m2 of usable area was compared. The analyses were conducted for two single-family houses with similar characteristics using scheduling and cost estimation software. The conducted analyses have shown that the shortest time to build a house is in the prefabricated reinforced concrete technology. The used construction technology from ready-made prefabricated elements affects the time of building house and thus, the costs of its construction. The construction time for the house in case of a timber frame structure and made of ready-made reinforced concrete prefabricated elements is similar but the cost of a timber frame structure is much higher. It takes longest time to build a house in traditional brick technology and requires the involvement of the largest financial resources from all three analysed construction technologies. Despite this, traditional brick technology is the most used in construction in Poland and other Central and Easter Europe countries. This is due to the widespread belief of investors about the durability of a building made in this technology and the habits of investors resulting from a long-standing tradition of construction. However, the study’s results in the world showed that a change in build technology is a step in addressing the concerns of poor quality and reduce construction costs and time, increasing the construction sector’s productivity and sustainability.