The Career of Iván Szelényi (1938–2026) in the Context of Modern Hungarian Sociology

Abstract

This article examines the institutional, political and international transformations of Hungarian sociology between 1960 and 2026 through the professional trajectory of Iván Szelényi. Drawing on Szelényi’s scholarly works, interviews and secondary literature, it asks how his theoretical and empirical research and his academic organizational activities contributed to the development and international embeddedness of Hungarian sociology, and how the political and institutional conditions of the scholarly field shaped his career. The analysis distinguishes three periods. The first traces Szelényi’s formation as a sociologist, his research on urban development and housing, the emergence of his critical position and his forced emigration in 1975. The second examines his international career in exile and the development of his theories of redistributive inequalities, the class power of intellectuals and interrupted embourgeoisement. The third discusses his renewed involvement in Hungarian sociology after the regime change and his research on post-communist class and elite formation, social exclusion and illiberal capitalism. The article argues that Szelényi’s role in Hungarian sociology can be understood as a shifting configuration of institutional membership, forced externality and transnational mediation.