The term ‘social responsibility of museums’ implies various associations, most frequently referring to the sphere of management and the activities of commercial entities in accordance with the ISO 26000 standard. In this article, we report on some of the tasks performed in connection with a project based on a sociological perspective and addressing the social responsibility of public cultural institutions such as museums. As this concept is relatively new, we decided to check how it is understood in the social world of Polish museum professionals. The research was therefore carried out using elements of the grounded theory methodology, i.e., the concepts (categories) were not defined at the outset, but defined and characterised in the course of the research according to the understanding of the respondents. Using a triangulation of methods, an analysis of found data, individual interviews in Polish museums (IDI) and focus group interviews (FGI) in Polish and international groups were conducted. A particularly interesting strand of the Project was museum education and its growing importance. This article focuses on the conducted focus group interviews (FGI). A specific commentary on the findings is provided by the reflections given during a guest lecture by Dr Bernadette Lynch organised as part of the Project.

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The noticeable changes which take place in museums, regardless of the character of the collected and displayed artefacts, allow to draw attention to a definite turn towards the audience. The inclusiveness of educational activities, which results from the transition from passive to active cooperation methods, causes an increasingly common educational turn within the field of museum studies. The article is an attempt to present the research perspective undertaken by the author. This kind of approach is meant to examine the use of museums in order to change the society. The definition of social responsibility ought to be considered on different points of view while acknowledging documents of museum strategies.

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