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
L. Kiuzadjan regards the level of internationalisation, various stages are possible according to the equilibrium or disequilibrium in the participation of different nations or blocs of nation-states. Starting from the variables taken up by these research projects, it is evident that rigorous methodological reflexion about the Vienna Centre's research work must take place, which should neither be holistic nor individualistic, but systemic. What, then, is the epistemological pivot around which the construction of research targets and the delimitation of the scope of research revolves? What is the theoretical pivot around which hypotheses are grouped and concepts defined? What is the morphological pivot around which diverse theories and different levels of explanation for phenomena are articulated? What is the technical pivot around which empirical investigation evolves and the structuring of observation and data gathering is effected? As far as the scientific aim of the Vienna Centre's research projects is concerned, it is certain that many of them relate to theoretical concepts of society or the social system, involving areas where negotiations occur. In fact, levels of reality such as the region, the nation, the continent, or the "world system" are empirical configurations which do not determine whether sociological explanations are satisfactory. At any rate, in any living society - by definition - there is change, thus "negotiation" is possible, if not indispensable. But there are areas where negotiation takes up a predominant position: international relations, political science, legal thought, political economy, communication science, environmental problems (including risk studies), choice of technology, etc. Disciplines such as linguistics, geography, history, anthropology, ethnography, and psychology of course contain a multitude of systems which are shaped entirely by conscious or unconscious negotiation. Summary and conclusions Given its long experience in the field of comparative transnational and transcultural research, the Vienna Centre is one of the institutions that is best equipped for taking up the new challenges. It is the increasingly stronger links of interdependence between the processes and structures which make it more and more necessary to analyse the situations by taking into consideration also the global perspective, such as regional diversities and national specificities. The comparative approach as well as the interdisciplinary one are those which are best suited for grasping the interconnections between the different levels of analysis. 164 Thoughts in the library "
