Institute of Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Activities

The Institute

• conducts the empirical study of social processes with aspirations of developing sociological theories and methodology;
• participates in elaborating the different sociological contexts of social policy and economy, in the development of different types of reform concepts and also in their critical analysis;
• undertakes applied research commissioned by various types of organizations and institutions;
• cooperates with local and foreign social science institutions and universities in interdisciplinary research;
• participates in the planning and implementation of comparative research projects initiated by international organizations;
• is involved in several EU-, OECD- and NATO-projects;
• organizes workshops as well as national and international conferences for the discussion of scientific issues;
• is home to associates who teach in all the larger Hungarian universities or their doctoral schools. Their studies are published in books or in relevant journals;
• edits and publishes the following periodicals: Social Research, Community and Culture, Booklets of Methodology, Working Paper series.
  

Research aims

The basic aims of the Institute are twofold: Firstly, to conduct 'classical' sociological research, that is, basic research on theoretical and methodological sociological issues; and secondly, to examine the dynamics of changes in Hungarian society, and to work out methods for solving current social problems and conflicts. Consequently, it carries out empirical and interdisciplinary social research on the one hand, while it also pursues policy-oriented research on the other. It applies both analytical and normative research methods. The greater part of the institute’s work is of dual use due to the demand for empirical data processing and analysis. The results can be used for the preparation and testing of social-political strategies, while the collected data are an impulse for creating basic research synthesis.

Research areas

In the past few years, the great international projects and the data surveys of the strategic work dominated the institute’s research. A prominent role has been designated to risk management and the preservation of the environment as well as the technology and knowledge economy, work and organization sociology and the research of culture. Considerable time has been devoted to research concerning social roles and politics as well.

Climate change

• Social aspects of climate change
• Specific issues of adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change

Cultures, policies, lifestyle

• Social consciousness
• Analysis of social and cultural change
• Attitudes and values of the economic elite
• Cultural aspirations of the new elite
• Alternative life strategies
• Everyday life culture
• Cultural patterns
• Behavioural patterns of the middle class in mass culture
• Media, media habits
• Methodological bases of the analysis of symbolical phenomena
• Cultural encounters in the European economy and society after the accession

Equal opportunities, poverty

• Equal opportunities
• Subsistence strategies of poor families in regional and ethnic aspects
• Child abuse in the family
• Relations between minorities and majorities in local communities
• Immigrants
• School segregation in a new perspective
• MOBILITATA
• SOCRATES ARKS: Catch-up programme for deprived adults

Environmental policy, sociology

• Sustainable consumption, production, communication
• Views of the future: social and economic strategies for Hungary
• Extreme weather
• Condition of water
• Radioactive waste

Gender issues and social minorities

• Transformation of family and gender roles; family policies
• Work-life balance (WLB) issues
• Roles and responsibilities of men in creating more equal gender opportunities
• Equal treatment policy-making concerning gender, gender expression and sexual orientation
• Social exclusion of LGBT people
• HIV prevention, AIDS intervention research

Knowledge and innovation

• Systems of knowledge creation and distribution: science, innovation, technology, communication
• Emergence of the information society
• Institutionalisation processes of technology and innovation
• Future views of Hungary in 2015 and 2020
• Brain drain of Hungary
• The reform of the state
• Ministries and ancillary institutions in the process of reorganisation
• Local government policies
• Civil society
• Relations between NGOs and local governments
• Co-operation between public and private institutions in social policy
• Adaptation processes related to joining the European Union
• The effects of EU accession and security policies on East Central Europe
• Globalisation impacts on Hungarian society
• Transformation of the system of public administration
• Transformation of health-care system
• Hungary’s CIS strategy: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan
• Cultural differences in environmental consciousness

Research of values

• European Social Survey (ESS): data-survey of 28 countries
• Changes of values in Hungary
• Survey of family values and attitudes

Risk Society

• Distribution and re-distribution of risks
• Macro level risk management
• New deprivation related to knowledge distribution

Social structure, welfare policy

• Dynamics in the transformation of Hungarian society
• Activity structure of Hungarian society
• NGOs
• Old and new poverty
• Aging population, pension, intergenerational equity
• Changing family structures
• Modernisation processes
• The Roma/Gypsy population in Hungary;
• Post-socialist welfare systems
• Social background of deprived people receiving welfare payments
• New social risks in the European knowledge society and higher education
• Social inclusion strategies for schools

Sociology of work and organisations

• The new information economy
• Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society
• Cultures and values of organisations
• Characteristics of knowledge and manpower use
• Flexible adaptability of enterprises and employees
• Measuring the dynamics of organisation and work
• Management methods of domestic and international multinational corporations

Urban development policy

• Spatial structure of society and settlements
• Regions in Hungary in 2020
• Changing rural societies
• Social-economic relation systems between cities and their rural heartlands
• Urban areas, socio-spatial inequalities and conflicts
• Equal opportunities, development paths in rural regions
• Housing estates
• Urban regeneration.