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Institutionalization and Professionalization of the Social Sciences in Hungary Since 1945

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Shaping Human Science Disciplines

Part of the book series: Socio-Historical Studies of the Social and Human Sciences ((SHSSHS))

Abstract

The study sketches the socio-historical conditions of the emergence of a strata of critical intellectuals in the late nineteenth century, as well as their institutional support agencies, giving rise to the first major ‘workshop’ of the social sciences (1900). A dismantling after the revolutionary break of 1918–1919 follows, with the emigration of a whole generation of scholars, producing the intellectual stalemate of the interwar years. The catastrophe of WWII including Nazification leads up to the transition years followed by hard core Stalinism, outlawing Western type social studies and replacing them by mandatory Marxism. A new start is observable only after 1963. All formerly restricted social sciences achieve a degree of professional standing before 1989, when the regime transition opens the door to full-scale Westernization (124).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Though a global assessment of the ethnic composition of the student body is difficult due to their dispersion in some 60 odd institutions of higher learning concerned (outside theologies), for the main training centers data are available with a good approximation as follows. Around 1900 among students born or residents in Hungary those of Jewish and German background represented 50% in the University of Budapest, 62% in the Budapest Polytechnic, 65% in institutions of higher education in Vienna and as much as 67% in those of Germany. See Karády (2012).

  2. 2.

    Estimation based on a prosopographical survey of members of the radical wing, the Galileo Circle, for the years 1912–1915.

  3. 3.

    With 66% jurists and only 3% of Jews, according to estimations. Vasvári (2007): 101–102.

  4. 4.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1949–1955, 332.

  5. 5.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1959, 329.

  6. 6.

    Data from the Magyar statisztikai évkönyvek [Hungarian statistical yearbooks] of relevant years.

  7. 7.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1967, 379.

  8. 8.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1969, 464.

  9. 9.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1980, 458.

  10. 10.

    Magyar statisztikai évkönyv [Hungarian statistical yearbook], 1990, 286.

  11. 11.

    Ibid., 1990, 276 and ibid., 2010, 222.

  12. 12.

    This is why several highly qualified ‘old regime doctorates’ of established academics were officially converted into ‘academic candidate’ degrees after 1989 without any further procedure.

  13. 13.

    Data drawn from the prosopographical lists of scholars active in the fields of Arts and Social studies gathered in the framework of the Interco-SSH project.

  14. 14.

    http://www.otka.hu/en.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Victor Karády

  2. John Wesley Theological College, Budapest, Hungary

    Peter Tibor Nagy

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  1. Victor Karády
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Christian Fleck

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Matthias Duller

  3. Department of History, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Victor Karády

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Karády, V., Nagy, P.T. (2019). Institutionalization and Professionalization of the Social Sciences in Hungary Since 1945. In: Fleck, C., Duller, M., Karády, V. (eds) Shaping Human Science Disciplines. Socio-Historical Studies of the Social and Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92780-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92780-0_8

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