Profesor Stanisław Borowski jako statystyk i demograf

Abstract

Professor Stanisław Borowski is one of the most distinguished researches of demographic phenomena in Poland in the post-war period. He was prepared for a research work not only thanks to his many-sided education (economics, law, mathematics) but also thanks to his personal predispositions such as deep intellect, rare organizational skill, great admirable diligence and consistency in accomplishing his research aims. Prof. Borowski's research interest was concentrated on several subjects among which the following have to be distinguished: 1. Statistical methods in population processes studies; 2. Studies of time-spatial trends of demographic and economic development; 3. Studies on factors of population reproduction. Prof. Borowski's methodological interests were concentrated on transformations of source-information into statistical cathegories, in quantification rules of mass-phenomena and on measurement of their numerical value. He paid a big attention to, the identification of statistical sources and to the comparative analysis. He created a basis for a new, unknown branch of statistics: source-knowledge in the field of socio-economic phenomena. The published articles concerning this new subject have been very well received by scholars in Poland and abroad. In his research work Prof. Borowski was using new tools-mathematic-statistical methods. Thanks to this he could create on a large scale scientific synthesis based on an enormous historical and contemporary sources. During the last years of his life he concentrates his efforts on factor, taxonomie and cohort analysises being a pioneer of their implementation in Poland. Being an advocate of a modern-type of numerical description of demographic phenomena he contributed to the development of a new discipline called demometry. He presented this attitude in many works. His inspirations in this field are also to be found in the doctor's dissertations of many of his students. The second part of Prof. Borowski's research effort concerns secular trends of the demographic development of the Wielkopolska region and of the whole country. One has to mention broad, historical studies on rural and nonrural labour market. In this field he created monumental works being a turning point in existing historical demography studies. He presented in them a new approach based on the implementation of the newest mathematical and statistical methods. This research approach is then continued in his studies concerning contemporary transformations of population. Prof. Borowski conducted studies on measurement of labour source resources in agriculture and on division of labour force between agriculture and non-agricultural branches of national economy. His three-part monography on economic and demographic development of Wielkopolska region in last 170 years is strongly related to this area of his research interest. He stressed there relations between land reforms, creation of modern agriculture, capitalistic and socialist industrialization and development of the Wielkopolska region. Studies on the Wielkopolska region created a basis for broad studies on the demographic transformations in the whole country. Using a rich empirical data Profesor Borowski studied a process of demographic revolution in Poland (so called demographic transition) and a tendency to a demographic stabilization related to socio-economic transformations in Poland. Broad studies on factors determining processes of population reproduction in Poland belong to the third part of Prof. Borowski's interest. Those studies were interrupted by his sudden death. They were conducted as a part of a broader subject "Optimization of Demographic Structures and Processes in Polish People's Republic". Prof. Borowski initiated and coordinated them in a close cooperation with the Comittee of Demographic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The implementation of rich and reliable statistical information was one of the characteristics of Prof. Borowski's research-approach. When information was not available or when available data could not be treated as reliable, Prof. Borowski and his students created with an enormous effort their own information sources. Prof. Borowski conducted on a big scale survey studies and laborious archival studies in the whole country. As a result a unique data bank on demographic processes in Poland has been created. Prof. Borowski's research output in the field of demography represents a fully mature scientific approach. It evoluated from analytical studies to theoretical and methodological synthesisses. Prof. Borowski has creatively contributed to the development and to the modernization of demographic sciences in Poland. Thanks to his efforts demography has found an important place among social sciences on national and international level.