Miklós Hadas Physical Training or the Nationalization of Gymnastics
Miklós Hadas' text is an excerpt from a book entitled Sports and Masculinity he is currently working on. His starting question is the following: What explains that in the 20 th century Hungary became a "great sports power"? The answer is attempted through the study of social dispositions, i.e. historically conditioned gendered behavioral patterns of different social groups. It is argued that in the past two centuries of modernity, masculine passions have been channeled into new directions, aggressive fight aimed at destroying the enemy being replaced by civilized competition. In the present text the process is analyzed during which gymnastics, the independent presport of the emerging Hungarian bourgeoisie, is transformed into compulsory physical training in Hungarian stateschools after 1867. German and Swedish type physical trainings are confronted and the strategies of different fractions (exclusion/inclusion/expansion) are also dealt with.
Péter Tibor Nagy The Sociological Narrative of the History of Education
This study provides an overview of the history of the educational policy in Hungary between 1867–1949. The following main periods of the education policy can be distinguished:
During the period from 1765 to 1867, which is the period of the authoritatively
dictated, notconstitutional modernism, there was no relevant cooperation between the sovereign and the civil actors of the educational field.
1.) THE PERIOD OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL EDUCATIONAL POLICY (1867–1920)
From 1867 to 1876 the government aimed to rule and to modernize the education without any relevant cooperation with the local aristocracy. From 1867 to 1890 there has been a balance of power established among the local aristocracy, the church – which was the major contributor to the maintenance of schools – and the VKM (Ministry of Religion and Educational Matters). Form 1890 to 1920 there were new players who joined this equilibrium: the industrial and commercial educational societies, the movements of the teacher and schoolmaster and the growing contribution of the state to the maintenance of schools, mainly in respect of the stateschools of the various minorities and the trade schools. Nevertheless, the growing influence of the state was always balanced with another pole, e.g. by the participation of the judiciary.
2.) THE PERIOD OF THE TRANSITION (1920–1934)
The crisis of the equilibrium policy has started after 1919. The main characteristic of this policy is that the balance between the different influences – on one side the secular educational policy of the state and on the other side the influence of the church as financial supporter of the schools – was followed by their cooperation under the guide of the ideology of the Christian Nationalism whereby the situation of the free competition and "equal" opportunities in the education has been replaced by restrictions on origin (numerus clausus).
3.) THE PERIOD OF THE EXPANSION OF THE STATE (From 1934)
The state aimed to strengthen its influence on regulating the types of the schools and their control. The system of the different types of schools (elementary school, trade school, high school) became inflexible and this restriction contributed to the division of the society into different classes and to the ideological pressure on the everyday life. The political vocation of the school inspectorate and the intensity of the control are similar to those typical in a totalitarian society.
In a society where there is no respect for the resultoriented professionalism in the commerce and in the everyday life, the education remains authoritarian and ideological, because the goal of such "general" education is not to allow the formation of a modern civilized society. Where the upperclass is able to force the vanish of the achievements of the professionalism developed during several decades and in a situation where the ones with better qualities are given worse educational opportunities, it is obvious that building a carrier does not require professionalism, but symbolical knowledge, or not even knowledge, but only a wellestablished connection to the required upperclass.
Judit H. Sas The History of the "C"–Building
This article is a part of a comprehensive research conducted by the author on the history of the residents of a building in Budapest by means of the method of "Oral History". In this paper the history of a Christmas Eve is being described whereby the audience learn to know the characters, their past and their internal relations through their discussions. The event was recorded on video. Therefore it was possible to evaluate the contribution of the method of using video and in a broader sense applying visual materials when conducting a sociological research.
Miklós László–Kyra Tomay In the Shadow of Westend
The study examines the subject of city rehabilitation by pulling down older buildings. The area designated to be demolished is an apartment block at the corner of Munkácsy Street and Podmanicky Street in District 6 in Budapest.
The survey was conducted based on questionnaires and interviews with experts and nonexperts. The researchers' main job was to collect information to help the municipalities in order to offer an acceptable substitute housing to the residents. They have included certain broader considerations and questions to this concrete goal.
According to the results, the majority of the occupants agreed on the demolition of their house, mainly because of the physical condition of these houses. However, they did not wish to leave their familiar neighborhood. They wanted to remain in the district, in a similar location. The overall majority of those who live in the neighborhood agreed to the demolition, yet their opinion varied in respect of the eight buildings. Were the residents' choice decisive, the old MÁVbuildings on Podmanicky Street would remain intact. Nevertheless, this alternative cannot be considered as a valid choice because of the intent to sell the land in its entirety. The findings revealed a very strong social network in this apartment block. Were the occupants dispersed, this network would disappear; thus, the existing precious social bonds would be broken up. The "case" is not finalized, as the occupants have not moved yet. The researchers intend to follow the future of this community.
Mihály Fónai–Éva Filepné Nagy The Results of a Research Conducted on the Romany Community in a Specific County
This study summarizes the results of a research conducted on the Romany community in the county SzabolcsSzatmárBereg, in Hungary. The aim of this research was to create a database of empirical data to be used at different social programs in the county. The researchers have targeted to handle the various qualification methods integrally; with other words, besides the qualification of the majority they also applied the identification of the Romany community itself. In addition, the opinion of Romany professionals and the members of the local minority council were taken into account as well. The scope of this research addressed two main topics: the educational background of the Romany students and some aspects of the living conditions of the Romany community in the county. This latter research was based on a survey interviewing a sample of 1005 households.
The situation of the Romany community in the county was examined from different aspects: such as their sociodemographical situation, living conditions, economical activity and educational background, their perception of problems and their attitude on perspectives. The findings did not reveal any significant differences to the overall situation in Hungary concerning many of these aspects; thus the major figures in the county were similar to those determined in the country. In the contrary, the study revealed significant results on the field of the perception of problems and the attitude on perspectives. Among the youth there is an acceptance of the need of higher educational background, which is basically a desired trade school degree at this point. To learn the traditional Romany professions is not any more attractive. The Romany community considers unemployment as its most significant problem and poverty as a result thereof. They are despair and they are looking forward to being supported – similarly to other underclass groups – by the state and not by the local council or Romany societies, which are considered to be powerless.
Mózes Székely Global Problems and the Environment
The article presents the findings of a survey conducted in 2000 by interviewing 1000 persons, a representative sample of Hungary's adult population. The results show that at the dawn of the new millennium people think about poverty and environment as one of the most dangerous questions worldwide. From global point of view wars, famine and diseases belong here as well, whereas in Hungary the problem of "Alcohol, smoking and drugusing" is evidently considered to be the most important. The results challenge the popular view about the possibilities of individuals' contribution. Two third of the participants mention concrete actions, with which the individuals are willing to contribute to the solution of these problems. In the public mind, there is a multifaceted but homogeneous system of concepts outlined around the expression of 'global problems'. Firstly, the arrangement of the general terms of serious phenomena varies by different aspects: e.g. certain things are important at world scale, and others for Hungary specifically. Secondly, the complex events both close to and far from us are categorized and classified similarly, and moreover, the ranking of importance are alike at nearly all sociodemographical groups.