Rezumate Sociologie Românescă

Sociologie Românească, Vol. VII, no. 4/2009, pp. 138-154.

 


 

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Romania - layers of collective identity in the 19th and the 20th centuries: An outline until the interwar period


Radu Baltasiu, Manuela Boatcă, Adela Şerban, Ovidiana Bulumac*

 

 

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Abstract: There is no simple answer to the question of the development of the Romanian modernity. The paradigm of multiple modernities is a good starting point in understanding the issue since it „acknowledges" „the right" of the East „to appropriate modernity and the global system on their own" (Eisenstadt, Transformation and Transposition of the Thematic Multiple Modernities in the Era of Globalization, 2005, 43), i.e. considering its own development as „normal". But, there is more at stake than multiple realities. The 19h century is for Romania the locus of the beginning to regain access to its own normality. For reality is not only a multiplicity of rightful paths of evolution. Reality can also be filled with people and societies with no access to their own history, i.e. abnormal developments, something which the Western approach has somehow understood as „development of under- development", „reversal of industrial revolution" etc. We will outline some of the most important steps towards Romania's „regained self", i.e. taking into account also the „mishaps" – the pseudodevelopmental issues as well some of the successful paths toward Romania's collective identity. There were three major cleavages between 1711 and 1944, to which we have identified three answers („renaissance" periods). Romania's take off towards modernity started with a sudden interruption (the Phanariot regime), it was overstrained with multiple options and unsound divagations after 1821, to be severely hampered again under the Soviet occupation after 1944. The present paper highlights some aspects of the collective identity until the breakout of the Second World War. It was presented in Istanbul, February 2009, during the Europeanization, multiple modernities, and collective identities – Religion, nation, and ethnicity in an enlarged Europe seminar of VW Foundation at the Kadir Has University.

Keywords: collective identity, Europeanization, modernity, statehood, ethnicity, Christendom, multiple modernities.

Cuvinte-cheie: identitatea colectivă, Europenizare, modernitate, statalitate, etnicitate, creştinătate, multiplă modernitate.

 

Sociologie Românească, Vol. VII, no. 4/2009, pp. 124-137.

 


 

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Post-comunism în Europa Centrală şi de Est. Îmburghezire à la Cluj

Post-communism in Central and Eastern Europe. Becoming bourgeois Cluj style


Cristian Ioan Pop*

 

*Universitatea „Babeş-Bolyai”, Cluj-Napoca

 

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Abstract: The changes arised after the fall of the communism period from Central Eastern Europe were a good source of reflection for the ones who were interested in the way in which the communism first appeared in these areas and it was a good chance of understanding  the various forms that it can have. The writings about this field are numerous; there were approached different components of the society, either political, economical,  cultural or social, but as a point of reference for this paper I chose the theory of embourgeoisment (Szelenyi, 1995), about which we know it has an important influence reported at the Hungarian space and we will try to adapt it to the Cluj space after 1989. Cluj Napoca is a special case, because here the communism and the first business men networks followed a different path compared to the other Romanian places, precisely due to the different local context that was dominated in the first years of communism period by a nationalist party. Here appears that embourgeoisement phenomenon due to the different actual conditions that made more difficult to apply other  theories,  useful  in  the  explanation  of  the  Romanian  general  situation.  The methodology I used is social network analysis, based on both public data processing and interviews in order to show that there is another kind of embourgeoisement in Cluj that is not based on a rural substrate inheritated from communism, but on achieved and gained knowledge in order to build a local capital. The first part of the text will focus on the changes produced in Central Eastern Europe during the postcommunism, The second part will rely on the changes produced in Romania during this transit period, followed  by the third part that relies on the special context from Cluj sustained by examples  and  explanations  of  the  local  embourgeoisement  phenomenon  and  by  a conclusion where the results are presented and discussed.

Keywords: embourgeoisment, capitalism, post communism, business  networks, interlocking directorates.

Cuvinte-cheie: îmburghezire, capitalism postcomunism, reţele de afaceri, directorate inteconectate.

 

Sociologie Românească, Vol. VII, no. 4/2009, pp. 98-106.

 


 

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Constituţia României de la 1991 între istorie şi actualitate

The 1991 Romanian Constitution between history and actuality


Angela Banciu*

 

*Universitatea Politehnică din Bucureşti

 

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Abstract: L’ouvrage approche le sujet historique et juridique de la Constitution roumaine élaborée et adoptée en 1991, y compris les amendements de 2003, afin de mettre en évidence tant les valences positives que les limites de l’acte fondamental. Les récents débats relatifs à la réforme constitutionnelle portent à l’attention les aspects relatifs au caractère et au contenu de l’acte fondamental dans le but d’élucider les éventuelles modifications qui peuvent apparaître, afin d’assurer un fonctionnement meilleur de notre système politique.

Keywords: constitution, démocratie constitutionnelle, révision, pratique constitutionnelle, système politique.

Cuvinte-cheie: constituţie, democraţie constituţională, revizuire, practică constituţională, sistem politic.


Sociologie Românească, Vol. VII, no. 4/2009, pp. 107-123.

 


 

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Trust, reciprocity and volunteerism: Explaining low political activism in post-communist Romania


Dragoş Dragoman*

 

*‘Lucian Blaga’ University of Sibiu

 

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Abstract: This article analyzes some of the reasons why political participation in Romania, although structurally comparable with other Western cases, is much weaker. Using survey data, the article tests for three main blocks of variables that are supposedly important for political participation, including human capital, economic resources and context variables, motivations and, finally, social capital variables. The analysis focuses on social capital factors, which are civic volunteerism and social trust. The conclusion is that social capital is important for political activism and that civic activists in the long run may become a resource both for the rebirth of a public space and for effective mechanisms of control of political elites in Romania.

Keywords: Political activism; Trust; Volunteerism; Reciprocity; Post-communism; Romania.

Cuvinte-cheie: activism politic, adevăr, voluntarism, reciprocitate, post-comunism, România.

 

Sociologie Românească, Vol. VII, no. 4/2009, pp. 80-97.

 


 

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Modernitatea tendenţială

Tendential modernity


Constantin Schifirneţ*

 

*SNSPA

 

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Abstract: The article analyses the concept of tendential modernity as a type of evolution of Romanian society towards principles and norms of modernity. Romania still experiences specific modernization. Unlike Western modernization, Romanian modernization began with political institutional construction and not with the building of capitalist economy. Modernity is a trend which coexists with obsolete institutional forms. Modernity penetrates slowly and with difficulty through the complicated network of socio-institutional structures of the traditional, patriarchal society. Modernity is a tendency, an ideal in the construction of a nation. It is mosaic modernity, and it is not organized in a clear, dominant form. Many elements of modernity have failed to coagulate stable modern structures in all sectors of society.

Keywords: modernization, modernity, multiples modernities, tendential modernity, the dominant form a modernity.

Cuvinte-cheie: modernizare, modernitate, multiple modernităţi, modernitate tendenţială, forma dominantă a modernităţii.