Our research aim is to explore the continuities and discontinuities of Hungarian sociological thinking (1960-2010). Through a few basic research themes we examine how main research questions were developed before 1990 and how these have influenced sociological research after 1990. We argue that although the life of Hungarian sociology, born in 1960, was largely determined by the socialist framework within which it was growing and which put a political pressure on it, contemporary methods and achievements shall not be labeled as pure “products” of “socialist sociology”. On the contrary, it managed to provide fruitful grounds for conducting inevitable researches. This is why it is important to have a closer look at these research projects and analyze their effects, not only from the point of view of the history of ideas but also because understanding and recycling traditions could strengthen the discipline’s contemporary competitiveness. It is widely believed that Eastern European sociology constantly copies its “Western” counterpart and barely comes up with any original approaches, however, on the basis of its traditions, it should contribute at the international level to the description of relevant social problems. With the scope of the proposed research, we will explore this antonymic situation and, at the same time, recognize those elements and strategies of our sociological heritage, which could be considered as an added value to the international sociological thinking. The research is primarily based on the unique collections of the Voices of the 20th Century Archive as well as on its members’ research work, which has already been supported by the OTKA.

OTKA K 115644, 2016–2019

Project leader: Éva Kovács