Czech politician and sociologist Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937) created his own ideological, political, and sociological approach that is known as "Czech critical realism", Masaryk developed his sociological approach that has its epistemological, theoretical, and methodological specificities. In addition, he believed that sociology must also have a practical application, that is, one of the main goals of sociology is to create a scientific basis for shaping society and policy implementation.

The epistemological and theoretical positions of Masaryk's sociology are in the middle of extreme positions of both objectivism and collectivism (in which supra-individual social phenomena play a major role in sociological understandings and explanations), and, on the other hand, subjectivism and individualism (where the individual psyche plays a major role in sociological understandings and explanations). The basic assumptions of his sociology are: 1) nothing can be known in advance about the character of social reality; 2) regular observations and critical analysis are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of social reality; 3) society is equally shaped by objective factors (objective situation) and subjective factors (individual psyche).

Masaryk defined sociology as "the science of society and human history." Sociology studies issues of the organization of society, the "natural consensus" that exists in society, the conditions that need to be met for society to exist, social change, and historical development. He took from Comte the division of sociology into social statics and social dynamics. Social statics studies the factors that lead to an equilibrium in society: the influence of nature on society, as well as political, family, religious, and economic institutions. Social dynamics investigates the general development of societies, and progress, as well as the development of the most important social factors - morality, religion, science, etc. Masaryk believed that no factor (natural or social) has a decisive deterministic and causal role in society, but that natural, social, and personal factors have an equal role in determining social development, which achieves the balance of the social system. Social dynamics and social statics are abstract sciences and represent two different sides of the same cognitive process.

Authors: Masaryk, Tomáš; Kaizl, Josef; Kramarž, Karel.

Books:

Masaryk, Tomáš The New Europe (1918) 

     -     The Spirit of Russia : Studies in History, Literature and Philosophy (1919) 

     -     The Slavs After the War (1922) 

     -     The Making of a State 1927)

     -     The Voice of an Oppressed People (2018).