ABSTRACTS


Róbert, Péter:
Occupational Class Structure:
Theoretical and Methodological Problems

The present paper was written with the objective of calling attention to the need for revision, and if necessary, for possible transformation of the occupational classifications (groups of work, stratification models), used in Hungarian social science research. Social position (class, stratum, status group, socio-economic status) has prominent place among the variables used by social science surveys, the definition, operationalisation, and measurement of which is partly theoretical, and partly empirical task. In the case of measuring, social position, special emphasis is placed on works requirements like reliability, validity, international comparability, as it works as a basic background (explanatory) variable in the majority of statistical data and of researches.

The paper wishes to lay foundations of such a research which would primarily perform the revision and modification of the occupational categories presently used in social statistics. The Hungarian practice of social sciences shows that it is expedient to use such categories based on broad professional consensus in respect of social position, which meet the requirements and needs of statistical grouping as well as of other social science researches. For the future research, the paper surveys the theoretical and methodological questions related to the definition of social position, and argues that social position must be measured by a classification containing a finite number of categories, based on occupation (place occupied in the division of labour), and a few related features of the labour market and of employment. Its development is a task for empirical research, the basis of which is also summarised by the paper.


Róna-Tas, Ákos–Böröcz, József:
Continuity and Change in the Bulgarian, Czech, Polish and Hungarian Business Elites after State Socialism

This paper argues that, despite the apparent dissimilarities of the transformation paths taken by the four societies after the collapse of state socialism, the process of economic elite selection has been strikingly similar. These strong and nearly uniform mechanisms link an individual's past to his or her present and tie the collective pre-state-socialist and state socialist past to a collective present.


Szalai, Erzsébet:
Systemic Change and the Conversion of Power

The Hungarian elites have undergone curious metamorphoses since the surfacing of the structural crisis of state socialism in the 1980s, primarily appearing in the shape of economic tension. It is primarily the transformations of the technocracy of the late Kádár period which are decisive among them. The possession of symbolic capital is a basic condition of retaining the positions gained within the political, economic and cultural elites towards the completion of systemic change, which guarantees the conversion of the three basic types of capital defined by Bourdieu as social, economic and cultural, into one another. The power structure that has emerged can be described with the help of Max Weber's terminology as an estate having class features.


Vedres, Balázs:
Bank and Power. The Place of Banks in the Web of Contacts
of the Big Hungarian Companies

There is an increasing interest in the contemporary Hungarian social scientific literature in the possible power of banks and bankers. The question of bank – power implies the giving up of the image of the independent firm, so I think that a relevant empirical answer to the question needs an analysis of the interfirm relations. To trace the possible power of banks over large corporations I have analysed the network of interlocking directorates of the largest one hundred Hungarian firms and the banks. The relation of banks and firms can be characterised largely as a matter of constraint. The banks are connected with less profitable companies, that possibly have bad loans. According to the models of centrality there is no evidence that the banks are more central than firms, so we cannot state, that the banks have power. Apart from this there is a bank centrality, if we control for other factors. This means that being a bank possibly means power, but the other characteristics, such as revenue and indebtedness suppress this effect.


Bindorffer, Györgyi:
Ethnic Groups Live in Their Language.
Identity, Representation of Language and Culture in a Swabian Village in Hungary

One of the main characteritics of ethnic minorities in Hungary, among them of ethnic Swabians, is their bilinguqlism and biculturalism. These groups having lived in Hungary for more hundred years have learnt Hungarian and internalized some elements of the different Hungarian culture. That way they developed a special kind of cultural identity which is open both in ethnic and national direction.

In case of ethnic minorities in Hungary the culture and language of the majority has strong impact on the ethnic culture and mother tongue. As a consequence minorities loose their language, they are on the best way to loose their ethnic culture, too. All these facts show towards ethnic assimilation. Accepting the necessitiy and unavoidableness of changing language, however, Swabian ethnic groups does not want to disapper as communities and strive for their ethnic survival with their cultural representation.

In my research in Dunabogdány I have investigated this changing process with special interest on in- and outgroup influences, on changing social and cognitiv values. It is widely said and believed that transition in Eastern Europe and in Hungary stopped homogenization of cultures and opened ways towards a revival of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism. In the advaced stage of assimilation of ethnic minorities in Hungary process of homogenization could only be slowed down but by no means stopped. Besides their assimilated everyday profane way of life, however, Swabian and they can manifest it through their sacred ceremonies and tradition.


Pál, Eszter:
Herbert Spencer and the Evolutionary Theory in Social Science

The paper ventures to give a comprehensive presentation of Spencer's evolutionary theory. It analyses the changes of the general concept of evolution from his early understanding, stressing the growth of heterogeneity towards his later idea which brings the growth of integration into the foreground. Spencer's views on the development of the society are also dealt with. In respect of Spencer's social typology the paper justifies the fact that it cannot be fitted into a uniform evolutionary scheme.


Utasi, Ágnes:
Democratic Participation and the Morals of Authority

The needs of the (local) society are forcibly arranged into different preferences under the influence of the unequal conditions of existence. In the system of preferences the demand for participation in democratic public life is inevitably preceded by the satisfaction of daily biological and civilizational needs.

As a result, and as a consequence of the lack of broad strata of the middle classes, today the democratic participation of the majority of the society is limited only to voting and the demand for a share in public affairs, for the continuous control of MPs and for making them report back to the electorate do not figure in their way of life. In fact a social group may participate in public life and may demand participation only if its members live free of major difficulties.

Under the present conditions of social inequalities existing in respect of needs it largely depends on the ethical attitude of the elected leader how far he/she would use, or abuse his/her authority. Whether following the radical form of democracy, he/she would feel it his/her duty as the 'representative' of the community, to get acquainted and to 'force out' the opinion of the population before important questions, or, following the moderate form of democracy, he/she would consider his/her mandate as total authority between two elections.

Starting from the above hypothesis, the paper uses the data base of an empirical survey conducted among urban local government leaders and studies the composition of those leaders. It differentiates the three dominant leadership styles with the help of a multivariable analysis. The paper studies the sequence of dominant inequalities which, according to the experience of leaders of local governments, generates grave differences of interest and thus makes approaches to the divergent interests of strata difficult, together with the assertion of leadership styles creating consensus and demanding the participation of the population.