Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)
KÖNYVTÁR ÉS KORSZERŰSÉG – LIBRARY AND MODERNITY
A.F. Marks interests is discouraged. The system will protect itself by rightful social control and sanctions. In contrast, in the other perception, primacy lies with the individual and not with the social system. The individual interests, individual freedom and the right to self-realisation are continuously threatened by social institutions, i.e. the institutionalized forms of social control. Here, patterns of division of power, property, income and knowledge are not expressions of system needs but of individual. (group) conflicts. Victory is accumulation and accumulation is a resource for new victory; in the end consolidating emerging patterns of division which are ultimately reinforced by force. Although there may be some truth in the idea, it is somewhat simplistic to identify the two different conceptions with the ideologies of the former East European and the West European bloc. And it is certainly simplistic to assume a simple convergence of the conceptions from the East and the West after the liberalisation of Eastern and Central Europe. The social sciences are nowadays characterised by a polyparadigmatic situation with many theoretical and methodological approaches and nuances along the continuum from collectivism to individualism. Even small differences in approach may have an effect on problem definitions and the formulation of hypotheses. In the event that theoretical approaches to a research problem have been satisfactorily clarified, there always remains the possibility of semantic or terminological confusion. For example, the denotation, the sentimental meaning and the associations of words may vary according to place, time and group membership. The word fascist may have a denotation to which many would subscribe. Its sentimental value may however be very diverse and be determined by direct or indirect personal experience with the phenomenon. In addition, fascism may be associated with crime or with powerful authority or even with healthy patriotism and the salvation of the Fatherland. Also, differences in classification of phenomena have to be made explicit if effective cooperation and comparison are to be achieved. In the event that researchers would agree on a model of social stratification consisting of, f.e., six strata such as lower-lower, upper-lower, lower-middle, upper-middle, lowerupper and upper-upper class, international comparison and explanation of stratification systems may become extremely difficult if populations are distributed over these classes by application of different criteria per society. Similar problems will present themselves when other societal phenomena are internationally compared such as education systems, unemployment or crime. During the 3rd phase, the actual research fieldwork, new information needs will arise. Also then, the dialogue over variables, indicators, criteria, meaning and 176 „ Thoughts in the library "
