Hungarian Heritage Review, 1989 (18. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1989-02-01 / 2. szám
Special Features-O fThe-Month C| science has since been associated with his name. In Karl Mannheim’s interpretation, knowledge is a social product and is related to the social status of the individual. In spite of Mannheim’s and others’ efforts, the sociology of knowledge has remained an unsolved issue of epistemology. As an architect of the sociology of knowledge, he reluctantly conceded that objective knowledge of reality was impossible. For details see his Wissenssoziologie; Auswahl aus dem Werk (Berlin, 1964. 750 p.). Oscar Jászi (1875-1957, Oberlin, Ohio, USA) studied, besides Budapest University, in France and England. The nationality question and its federalist solution were central issues in his lifework. After the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in March, 1919, Jászi first emigrated to Vienna then to the United States. In 1925 he was appointed professor of sociology at Oberlin College, Ohio, were he earned wide recognition. His literary works deal with quite a number of subjects, including sociology, history, political science, to mention just afew. Oscar Jászi published two main works in the United States: The Dissolution of the Habsburg M onarchy (Chicago, 1929) and Against the tyrant; the tradition and theory of tyrannicide (with John Donald Lewis as joint author. Glencoe, 111., 1957). During the period between the wars, István Dékány (1886-1965) was a prominent figure in promoting social philosophy which he taught at the Budapest University up to 1946. Dékány also exercised wide influence on sociological research as the secretary general of the Hungarian Philosophical Society and as president of the Hungarian Sociological Association. Using an eclectic approach, István Dékány developed his own system of sociology based on the categories of social philosophy. His treatise prepared for delivery at the 14th (Bucharest, 1939) International Congress of Sociology dealt with the problem of social groups ( Communautés et organisations; essai sur la classification des groupements sociaux (Paris: Domat- Montchrestien, 1940. 96 p.). He published a multitude of monographs on interpsychical cognition (Bevezetés az interpszihikai megismerés elméletébe. Kolozsvár,1919), social philosophy (A társadalomfilozóf ia alapfogalmai. Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1933), and a high-level, really scholarly introduction to social sei - ences (A mai társadalom. Bevezetés a társadalomtudományokba. (2d ed., Budapest) as well as a well-organized dictionary of sociology (Szociológiai müszótár. Budapest: Pantheon, 98 p.). In post-1945 Hungary, Sándor Szalai (b. 1912) has ranked high among Marxist sociologists. Szalai’s research has dealt chiefly with methodological topics and social implications of socialist industrialization. Author of several monographs in these fields, Szalai in recent years had held an important position in the International Sociological Association and in the United Nations Institutefor Training and Research (UNITAR). It is worth stating that between the wars, the movement of the people’s writers (népi írók mozgalma), especially the works of Géza Féja, Ferenc Erdei and Imre Kovács, culminated in a very specific form of Populism. Its sociological by-product proved to be a characteristic, never-before-used interdisciplinary approach through which the writers were able to make a high effective description of the socioeconomic, political and cultural phenomena of individual places and regions. 16 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW FEBRUARY 1989
