Intézményesülés és narratívák (1996–2025)

Absztrakt

This study examines the institutionalization and disciplinary self-conception of social history writing in Hungary from a Sociology of Science perspective, focusing on the period between the 1960s and 2025. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s Field Theory and Thomas F. Gieryn’s concept of Boundary-Work, it analyses how social history emerged as a distinct subfield within Hungarian historiography and how its narratives of legitimation have evolved across political and institutional contexts. Based on the narrative analysis of public professional statements, programmatic writings, and responses to survey inquiries, the research compared three key moments (1996–1997, 2001, 2025) using a qualitative methodology. The analysis demonstrates that the institutionalization of the social history field has largely taken place over recent decades, and while its boundaries have stabilized, they remain subject to ongoing renegotiation. Statements from 2025 are particularly sensitive indicators of the erosion of the social authority of science and the increase of political intervention, both of which pose new challenges for social history as a reflexive and critical form of knowledge.