A Sociological Panorama after the Great War. A Central and Eastern European Comparatist Attempt

Abstract

Abstract This article attempts to draw a general outline of comparative Central and Eastern European sociology. It focuses on the year 1918, when the Great War ended, and it explores the background and continuation of the (re)birth of sociology. The study is justified by the fact that the history of the national schools of sociology has been approached in correlation with Western centres, and therefore a regional approach is needed. First, the study differentiates between countries that were allied to the victorious powers in the First World War and countries that lost the war, between countries where sociology gained momentum and countries where science suffered. In the countries that were at an advantage – Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and Serbia –, sociology was at very different stages of institutionalization, but it registered significant progress until the 30s. The countries that lost – Bulgaria, Russia, and Hungary – were not only more weakened after the war but also plagued by revolutions, civil wars, and retaliations; they were not a fertile ground for sociological production. Apart from Russia, it is only in the 1930s that sociology started to considerably develop in these countries. The article does not only compare the status of sociology in the seven countries, but it also explores the evolution of the relationships between them. After an understandable dependence on the Western academic centres, there was the possibility for a regional identity to form.