Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1984 (12. évfolyam, 39-42. szám)

1984 / 39-40. szám

DISSERTATIONS (continued)

shape, use/reuse, diagnostic characteristics and raw material. The primary goal of the study was to determine whether an independent category of artifacts would support the regional variation evidenced by ceramic styles. The study failed to confirm the picture of regional diversity: ground stone tools are distributed over the study area in an unpatterned way. The major archaeological culture studied was the Eastern Hungarian variant of the Linear Pottery Culture of which a number of subgroups are recognized by Hungarian archaeologists who believe they indicate ethnic diversities. The geographical dissemination presented seems to show lack of patterned variability, suggesting that the Middle Neolithic period in Eastern Hungary was characterized by technologically and economically homogeneous, small village farming communities. □

Novak, Erwin Emílián (U. of Dallas, 1974) Providence and the West: The Hungarian Catalyst. 457 pages. Microfilm and xerox no. 8213594, was reviewed in HSN 35/36, p.6. In 1983 a revised edition became available under the order no. of DA8320855. □

Lengyel Cook, Maria S. (School of Public Health, Harvard LL, 1983) prepared a doctoral dissertation on the relationship between fertility and ecological and economic conditions in Hungary. Dissertations written for the Harvard School of Public Health are not abstracted in the Dissertation Abstracts International, thus, whoever desires to obtain a copy will have to write to the author.

Fertility declined in most of Hungary between 1880 and 1910. This was anomalous to the theory of demographic transition. The author found that socio-economic inequalities were frequently omitted from research considerations, and that the use of average income per capita as a measure of economic welfare in which less than 10% of the population hold more than 50% of the total wealth was a mistake. Surveying the behavior of indices of the “urbanization,” “cultural diffusion," and “economic welfare” theories by reviewing Hungarian historical data derived from censuses and statistical yearbooks of the period between 1880 and 1910, the author found that a significant decline in marital fertility was accompanied by a substantial improvement in the environmental and economic conditions of the majority of the population. She also found that improvement varied according to regions. Findings suggest that the fertility decline resulted from the voluntary practice of folk methods of contraception as economic conditions of the poor progressed. This study adds to the understanding of fertility decline in Europe and promises to provide a valuable perspective for the study of the demographic situation in presently developing countries. For an article on related subjects by the same author, see p. 8 in this issue. □

Skomal, Susan Nacev (U. of California, Los Angeles, 1983) Wealth Distribution as a Measure of Prehistoric Change: Chalcolithic to Copper Age Cultures in Hungary. 354 pages. Microfilm and xerox no. DA 8322030.

During the fifth to fourth millenia B.C. a series of abrupt changes occurred throughout East Central Europe, including accelerated technological development and intercultural contact. The early through middle Copper Age cultures in the Carpathian Basin belong to this period of transition. For the first time, copper and gold were mined and exploited locally; the domestic horse was introduced; the dead were buried consistently within separate cemeteries; sexual dimor-6

phism was clearly observed; settlement patterns were modified; and cultural influences from the northwest Pontic were felt. This study investigates the nature of social organizations among the Chalcolithic cultures in the area of present-day Hungary, i.e., the Lengyel, Tiszapolgar and Bodrogkeresztúr cultures, as they were reflected in their patterns of wealth distribution. The resultant patterns are interpreted by the use of recent social organizational research. Ten hypotheses point to the Tiszapolgar culture as a likely point of contact, because it recognized both ascribed and achieved methods of status acquisition for its male members only. Whereas the Bodrogkeresztúr culture demonstrated strong evidence for a female-oriented society with strong egalitarian tendencies, and the Lengyel society exhibited scant evidence for an egalitarian social organization, where sexual roles were least apparent. □

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ARTICLES & PAPERS

Andorka, Rudolf, “Household Structure and Work on Household or Auxiliary Plots in the Contemporary Hungarian Village.” East European Quarterly 17:4 (Winter 1983) 469-489.

The data of the study are based on a collaborative ethnological research effort in the village of Varsany, Heves County (Tibor Bodrogi, 1978). The author first described the size and composition of households and found that the households of Varsány, not unlike those in the greater part of Hungary, are of mixed social class composition. One factor contributing to the social heterogeneity of households can be traced to the availability of small plots of land cultivated by one or more members of the household. Such plots are assigned by an agricultural cooperative to its member, or leased by a worker from the village council, while auxiliary plots are cultivated by households with no formal ties with a cooperative. The author feels that the gaining and spending of income by contemporary village households are of enduring interest to social scientists and socioeconomic planners. The Varsany study and its skilled evaluation by the author have contributed to an important degree to the refinement of our knowledge on these topics. “The findings can be generalized in the framework of data obtained from representative national samples.” The author is on the staff of the Central Statistical Office of Hungary. □

Faragó, Tamás, “The rural artisan family, household, and work organization in the 18th century.” In II. International Symposium of Handicraft History, Veszprém, August 21-26, 1982, by the Veszpre’m Academic Commission of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1983, pp. 7-28.

This study concerns itself with the variations in structure and function of the village artisan family, household, and guild in 18th century Hungary. Differences between Western European and Hungarian forms are considered, leading to the hypothesis that family and household patterns as well as lifestyles of the village artisans were influenced by the peasant environment in which they existed and by their intensive interaction with basically agricultural society. The household is conceived as a co-resident group composed of parents, children, grandparents and a number of biologically unrelated members, much like a peasant household, except that its base is not the land but an artisan workshop. Guilds regulated the working process, marketing, right and privileges, i.e., the way of life. This type of social organization

NO. 39-40, SPRING-SUMMER 1984 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER