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Ichheiser's Polish language texts from before the Second World War cover a wide range of phenomena (e.g., vocational psychology, psychological conflict, life in both big cities and the countryside) and provide valuable insite into the history of social psychology. While these texts are different in their research foci, they are all written in a singular voice, a voice that speaks to a clear vision of what social psychology is and what role it can play—and can come to play—in the bettering of society. This chapter reviews Ichheiser's Polish texts and does so through the lens of his vision for the field. These texts are not only useful because of their scholarly analyses of the particular topics in question but also because they present Ichheiser's understanding of the role such research should play in both the development of the social sciences and the advancement of a just society. This chapter will provide a window into Ichheiser's Polish language texts in a manner that highlights how he practiced what he preached, that is, by writing as one acutely aware that his voice as a researcher was valuable and even intelligible only as embedded within a wider social context. This remains a valuable lesson for the field, but also one that remains difficult to truly grasp and even more difficult to put into practice.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-72508-6_7

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