Социологията в Централна и Източна Европа след Втората световна война до 1989 г.
Sociology in Central and Eastern Europe Between the Second World War and 1989: Institutional Cycles and Prospects for Development

Summary/Abstract: By analyzing the institutional history of sociology in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe during the period following the Second World War and up to the collapse of the Communist regimes, the author addresses the question of how sociology upheld and developed its project as a scientific discipline, becoming an institution within and of the social space of the totalitarian state. The process of cognitive and social legitimization of the discipline is described in terms of institutional cycles rather than as chronological periods of development of sociology. Three cycles are distinguished: institutional reanimation, institutional mimicry and institutional expansion, and the cognitive profile of each cycle of sociology is described. In conclusion, by comparing the institutional cycles and modes of sociological knowledge, the author traces some tendencies concerning the chances of sociology to place its intellectual resources at the service of social “truth” for the society it studies and develops in. The analysis is based on 71 interviews with sociologists of Bulgaria, Poland, the former GDR, the former USSR, Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia, scholars who participated in the consolidation and development of sociology in their countries, as well as on documentary sources and publications concerning the history of sociology in these countries.

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