The history of elite research in Hungary dates back some forty years, when the first studies were launched at the Institute of Sociology at ELTE University. The analysis of the knowledge elite was initiated by István Gábor Kovács, commonly known as Professor KIG, and the research tradition he established is now being continued by the Department of Comparative Historical Sociology.
The project entitled Knowledge elite and politics in the Horthy era. Mobility, networks, autonomy in the spheres of science and culture (abbreviated as ElitData Research Center) examines the most important positions held by individuals in knowledge-producing and knowledge-transmitting institutions, primarily universities and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, during the interwar period. The central question of the project is where the knowledge elite of the Horthy era was recruited from, how it was structured, and what role it played in the power structure of society. By analyzing the autonomy and internal configuration of the knowledge elite, we are conducting basic research that reflects on questions of elite theory, which has been completely absent from the results of Hungarian historical science to the present. The expected results of the research will contribute to shedding light on the most important historical questions related to the Horthy era, such as the relationship between the political and professional elites, the ways in which power was exercised, and the relationship between ethnic, religious, and political divisions within the elites.
The methods used in the research include a prosopographic study of the recruitment of elites and the formation of their networks using digital methods, an approach that is new in Hungarian historical sociology. We provide opportunities for the application of digital analysis methods that have gained ground in international historical sociological research over the past decade, enabling the systematic processing and analysis of large amounts of data.
With this new methodological arsenal and change in perspective, it will be possible to move beyond the simplistic debate between those who highly value the scientific and cultural achievements of the Horthy era and consider it an example of successful government science policy, and those who see it as a period of intellectual and scientific stagnation. The planned empirical study will overcome this simplistic question by adapting elite theories in the social sciences to the historical context through a collective biographical study of the knowledge elite.