Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1981 (9. évfolyam, 27-30. szám)

1981 / 29. szám

4-year vocational secondary school or to a higher technical institution, if he so choses.

Four types of higher educational institutions exist: universities, university-type colleges, colleges, and higher institutions. The length of study varies from two to six years, i.e. kindergarten teacher training is a two-year program, while medical school takes six years. Technical col leges offer 3 to 4 years of training in such areas as economics, agriculture, military science, teacher training, and various technologies. University-type colleges are 3 to 5 year institutions and offer training in art, politics, and physical education. Universities offer training in the humanities and sciences, including medicine and law. A diploma is awarded upon graduation, and a doctorate may be obtained with an additional year of study. Two higher degrees are awarded by the HAS: the Candidate-in-Science and the Doctor-of-Science. (EMB) □

Deák, István. “A Radical Field Marshal,” a review of THE SURVIVAL OF THE HABSBURG EMPIRE: RADECZKY, THE IMPERIAL ARMY, AND THE CLASS WAR, 1848 by Alan Sked (Longman, 19 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036, 1979) in The New York Review of Books, February 19,1981, pages 39-41.

The Habsburg Monarchy survived the 19th century revolutions, because its army remained loyal to the emperor. In countries where the army was no longer attached to the person of the monarch, but rather to the state, the monarch could no longer count on their unconditioned loyalty, as for instance in France after the Napoleonic wars. The survival of the Habsburg army during the 1848-1849 crisis was the more astonishing since it was composed of sons of eleven major and some twelve smaller nationalities. They were “citizens of their units, and not of the state or even the army as a whole.” The generals of this multinational army, who opposed making concessions to liberals and nationalists alike, won military and political victories. Most radical among them was Field Marshal Count Joseph Radeczky, who advocated a revolution from above, described by Sked as “a radical brand of paternalism,” which, however, failed to gain support on the local level and from the Australian government. It was also opposed by Great Britain. Thus, central power was maintained, without fundamental social and political reforms. The reviewer is prof, of history at Columbia U. □

Kapótsy, Béla, “The Interrelation of Legal Abortion, Divorce, and Suicide in Hungary, 1956-1973: A Preliminary Study," International Review of Natural Family Planning (Minnesota) 4:3 (Fall 1980) 232-251.

This study is based on a paper by the same title presented at the Third International Conference of the World Population Society in 1976 (see HSN no. 14, p. 5, and for earlier essay: HSN no. 3, p.6). It aims to find the kind and extent of interrelations, if any, between legal abortion and divorce; divorce and suicide; and legal abortion and suicide. Ample statistical data show fundamental changes in the absolute numbers of these social ills and in their interrelationship, clearly traceable to the changes in the conditions of legal abortion. Empirical data is scarce. The fact that one woman is known to have committed suicide on the first anniversary of her abortion is insufficient datum for reliable conclusions. Family conflicts, the fourth highest cause given for suicide, may include cases which are traceable to abortion, but in the presence of no empirical sources, conclusions can only be speculative. In any event, the high rate of suicide is a grave national problem, and legal abortion has been referred to as morbus hungaricus. Since the concern is shared by scholars

in Hungary and abroad, it is hoped that more studies will shed light on the cases and possible remedial actions. The author concludes his study with Hungarian-U.S. comparisons, and with some projections in regard to labor problems appearing as a consequence of abortion, divorce, and suicide. The author is assoc, prof, at Hunter College, CUNY, specializing in economics and demography. □

Kortvelyessy, Tibor A. “ ‘Hungarian Settlement,’ Louisiana Demography and Its Implications for Natural Selection.” Paper presented at the 50th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Detroit, April 1981.

A Hungarian settlement of some 150 families, informally called Arpadhon, at Livingston Parish, Louisiana, originated in about 1896 and represented the largest rural settlement of Hungarians in the U.S. It has been investigated by folklorist Linda Degh (see HSN no. 27/28, p. 9) and by physical anthropologist Kortvelyessy, and by Robert S. Hosh in a Columbia U. Teachers Coll, thesis. The isolated populaton of the settlement grew steadily until the 1930s. The depression then induced outmigration and population decline, lessening interest in cultural heritage, increasing exogamy, and assimilation into the mainstream of American life. Natural selection involves differential morality determining the potential progenitors, and differential fertility determining the actual progenitors. Crow’s Index of Total Selection was applied. This instrument estimates the maximum opportunity for natural selection from demographic data. The results show that natural selection has not been a major factor of evolution in the Hungarian settlement. The author believes that population densities were not large enough to be able to support large scale epidemics in comparison to such populations as e.g. the Polish Hill (Pittsburgh) group. In the present case fertility seems to be of greater importance than mortality. The author is assist, prof, at Kansas U. □

Roman Catholic Church statistics is the topic of the HIS Press Service, release no. 19 published by the Hungarian Institute for Sociology of Religion, Wien, Linzer Strasse 263, Austria 1140. The issue contains the most recent (1980) statistics on church membership, on the number of priests and seminarians, as well as on the number of seminarians serving in the three remaining orders (Benedictines, Franciscans, and Piarists). It also presents a discussion of the role of Roman Catholic high schools in priestly vocations. □ Schuchat, Molly G. “Hungarian Americans in the Nation’s Capital," Anthropological Quarterly 54:2 (April 1981) 89-93.

This paper is published in the company of similar accounts in a special issue of Anthropological Quarterly devoted to urban ethnography. The Hungarian community of Washington is of fairly new origin, hence, the author focuses on Hungarian-Americans who left Hungary after the abortive uprising in 1956. "The paper examines the factors that caused a community to develop in Washington, and clarifies the role of food habits in continuing and modifying ethnic background, taking into account, as well, developments in modern food usages and other symbolic aspects of life.” Whereas the old ethnicity in America represented localism and the lack of knowledge of choice, the new ethnicity presupposes both self-consciousness and choice.” Ethnicity, at least among former Hungarians in Washington, is expressed through a quasi-group which takes advantage of developments offered by the general culture and society to reinforce both a specific sense of community and Americanism. The author, who has written her doctoral dissertation on the role

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NO. 29, AUTUMN 1981, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

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