Integrative and desintegrative processes in Hungarian society

Principal investigator: Imre Kovách

OTKA K 108836, 2013-2017

17 theoretical papers were written last year, defining the concept of integration on the one hand, and, on the other, on how the concept can be interpreted in the sub-topics (labour market, stratification and integration, norms and values, networks, institutions, territoriality), and the research strategies based on these. The outcome of the papers is defining the concept of integration, and specifying the complete strategy of the research. According to the research strategy, quantitative and qualitative examinations will be applied together, and several methods and approaches will be used by the team which are novel in Hungary and in some cases even in international sociology. The first papers will be published in 2015. The questionnaire of the project was prepared during the year, and the survey will be carried out in the spring of 2015. For a long period of time, this questionnaire has been the first to provide information for empirical research that analyses the whole of Hungarian society from the point of view of the central question of the project, and the given sub-topics. During the survey two pilot sections will also be queried, unusually in Hungarian research practice. For the first time also in international practice, the survey uses new types of network diaries (500 cases) which will be filled in with the help of a nationally representative sample. A series of four qualitative surveys were also started, on the effects of institutions on integration and disintegration, on the integration and disintegration of local communities, on the integration of rural societies, and on the integration of groups of employees. In the very first phase of the project, four papers were given at international conferences.