Absztrakt

Having developed a conceptual framework for historical sociology during the 1930s and 1940s, István Hajnal played a pioneering role in the writing of social history in Hungary. However, a larger portion of his historical oeuvre fell into the category of traditional political and diplomatic history, which has been somewhat neglected by Hungarian historiography. Starting his career as a historian of literacy, Hajnal built the conceptual framework of his historical sociology on his original field, proposing its applicability on a European, even global, scale in a longue durée perspective. He elaborated it in detail to describe the development of early modern Europe, primarily focusing on the evolution of literacy, as well as incorporating urban and technology history into his broader investigations. With this, Hajnal created a counter-canon to which relatively few historians subscribed, yet it had a significant impact on sociological thinking. The question remains, however, how his historical model corresponded with the empirical knowledge of historiography at the time. Notably, Hajnal never addressed this issue himself. It was not until long after the author’s death, towards the end of the twentieth century, that István Hajnal’s thoughts on social history garnered deserved attention and attracted followers.