Possibilities for a New Social Model? (original) (raw)

A globalized history of social sciences and policies under Hungarian state socialism, 1953–1974

Our research aims at examining developments in the disciplines of geography, philosophy, economics, pedagogy, psychology and sociology between 1953–1974 in Hungary. In addition to analyzing scientific and institutional contexts, it will explore their impact on policy issues regarding the economy, culture, spatial planning, and educational, housing and roma policies. The originality of this research is that it will analyze disciplinary history in parallel with relevant changes in the economy, politics and society. Historical studies of science so far tend to analyze disciplines separately, emphasizing their turning points resulting from macro-political and economic ruptures, or situating them in regional or global contexts in the history of ideas. Our research, however, looks at the history of social sciences in terms of both the contents of produced knowledge and institutional structures as consequences of wider social changes in society. This project examines social changes of the period not from the view of inherent features of socialism in Hungary, or relevant major geopolitical events, but considers the social order of the nation-state as an integrated product of long-term global economic interactions. This research situates the debates about the possibilities and reform ideas of socialism in Hungary into this wider framework, and provides an overview of the transition of Hungarian social sciences in a period, when the embeddedness of Hungarian society into the global context changes, and its inner structures undergo deep transformation. The expected results will hopefully contribute to the history of scientific knowledge and the sociology of knowledge.

A World Lifted off Its Hinges: The Social Impact of World War I on Hungary

Hungarian Historical Review, 2022

As was true virtually everywhere, World War I brought about significant social changes in Hungary. As a consequence of the wartime mobilization of the economy, the relationship between employers and workers in industry was transformed, as was the relationship between owners of different sizes of estates and farms and agricultural workers in rural areas. In both spheres, groups emerged which were much better organized than before. Some of them were capable of coordinated political action, and the balance of power between them changed rapidly over time. The wartime government tried to ensure continuous coordination and reconciliation of interests between the various ownership and labor groups in agriculture and industry, but it ultimately failed. Beyond the military defeat, this failure was the primary determining factor of the events of 1918–19 in Hungary. By analyzing the group dynamics of wartime society and the wartime economy in Hungary, this paper seeks to outline the social and historical background of the political struggles that came in the wake of the war. It ventures two core contentions. First, the emergence of various agricultural and industrial interest groups and their coordination with one another and with the government in the aftermath of the war constituted mechanisms of integration that had not existed before the war. As a result, the diverse socio-professional groups in Hungary became more integrated into one society within the framework of the state. The second finding contention is that the counterrevolutionary regime that took over in late 1919 was more successful than previous governments had been in establishing a balance between the different groups of owners and workers and learning from previous experience, and this was why it was able, ultimately, to consolidate its hold on power.

From Progressivism to Conservatism: The Social Policy of the Hungarian Association of Industrialists (GyOSz) In the Era of Dualism and After World War I

Working Group of Economic and Social History, Regional Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Pécs eBooks, 2023

The purpose of the study. To examine how and why the social policies of the GyOSz and its attitude towards a broadening of suffrage changed from progressive ones in the period of Dualism to conservative ones in the Horthy Era. Applied methods. Literature review including the author's 1980 dissertation and subsequently published works on the topic by him and other authors. Outcomes. The GyOSz, many of whose members were of Jewish origin, sided with progressive groups in promoting a broadening of suffrage and some social policy measures in the period before World War. They did so in hopes of building an urban alliance that opposed the economic policies and antisemitism of the agrarian interest groups. Shocked by their experience during the latter months of Károlyi's republic and especially the Soviet Republic in 1919, the industrialists of the GyOSz threw their full support behind the conservative Horthy regime rather than making cause with the Social Democrats for progressive reforms. They did this to their peril since the Horthy regime initially promoted antisemitism and later was unable to contain it. Many members of the GyOSz suffered from the antisemitic laws and the subsequent Holocaust at the end of World War II.