Educated elites in pre-socialist Hungary - 1867-1948: issues, approaches, sources and some preliminary results of an overall survey

Abstract

'The main target of this paper is to report on the process of the formation of educated elites in Hungary since the end of feudalism and the birth of the nation state following the 1848 Revolution and the 1867 Compromise with Austria. The paper describes our long term study of elites during the political, administrative, economic and cultural modernization of Hungarian society within its historically given territories (outside Croatia). The survey is broken down into three long periods and structural parts: (1867-1918): liberal nation-building in the historic kingdom comprising the whole Carpathian Basin (multi-ethnic Magyar Empire) (survey of both the graduates of higher (post-secondary) education and of 'reputational elites' independently from their educational credentials).- (1919-1948) authoritarian anti-Liberal regime (involvement in World War 2 and the Nazi adventure followed by Liberation via the Red Army) ( survey of both graduates and 'reputational elites').- Communism and post-Communism (Stalinist and post-Stalinist Communist regime after 1956, post-Communism since 1989) ( survey of members of 'reputational elites' only).' (author's abstract)|