NOTE

ZOE APOSTOLACHE-STOICESCU (Ploiesti, ) NICOLAE DUNARE (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

A ROMANIAN SOCIOLOGIST� : HIS CONTACTS WITH AMERICAN SCHOLARS AND INSTIT UTES

The year 1980 saw the centenary of Professor Dimitrie Gusti's birth and a quarter century from the death of this founder of the first Romanian school of sociology. To mark this occasion-in addition to articles published in various periodicals-there ap- peared a commemorative book with contributions from seven of Gusti's former students and eight younger sociologists.1 Some achievements of the Romanian school of sociology in the second quarter of the twentieth century included: . a. Creating and applying a new method of research by teams of scholars, and then the writing of interdisciplinary mono- graphs ; b. the application of this method on a nation-state level by direct and systematic contact with local realities of the people themselves, with the aim of' developing a sociology of the Romanian nation; c. the pursuit in these direct investigations of a practical polit- ical aim, that is, social engineering; d. the increase of scholarly sociological movements by large scale direct cultural acts throughout rural Romanian society.2

1. H. H. Stahl, ed., Dimitrie Gusti: Studii critice (Bucure§ti: Editura %tiin§ific§ enciclopeclicbl,1980); co-authors: L. Apolzan, O. Badina, Al. BArbat, X. Costa-Goru-Andreescu, Costea, I. Drdgan, N. Dundre, E. Gall, T. Herseni, L. Marcu, I. Matei, P. Petrescu, H. H. Stahl, Stoian, I. Ungureanu. 2. D. Gusti, Opere, eds. O. Bddina and 0. Neam?u 6 vols. (Bucure§ti: Editura Academia, 1968-77), Gusti, La science de la rcfalitdsociale: Introduction à un système de sociologie, d'gthique et de politique (Paris: Alcan-Presses Universitaires de France, 1941); Lucia Apolzan, Sate, oraqe qi regiuni cercetate de 226

In order to discover truth, Gusti combined science with philosophy-using monographs for presenting research-estab- lishing a theoretical system of sociology to approach social reali- ties as ongoing social units (family, villages, towns, farms, workshops, industries, and so on), social relations, and social processes. The essential feature of any social unit is the develop- ment of economic, spiritual, moral-legal, and political activities or manifestations. Actually these four social manifestations are closely connected, representing creative aspects of the same so- cial units. These constituent components are determined by four factors: two natural frameworks, that is, nature (cosmology) and life (biology); and two social frameworks, time (history) and conscience (psychology). Gusti's sociological system combines three sciences: sociology, ethics, and politics; and his university department was also that of sociology, ethics, and politics.3 The system and method of the monographic school of sociology can be seen in many works. Among those published in Gusti's lifetime were collective interdisciplinary monographs about villages.4 During the following quarter century, collective inter- disciplinary monographs described geographical zones and even regions.5 In the 1930s there were also some works of a theoretical and methodological character coming from the Romanian school of sociology.6 Playing an important role as well in the develop-

Institutul Social Român (1925-1945), with preface by Gusti (Bucure?ti: Insitutul de cercetari sociale al Romaniei, 1945). 3. Gusti, Opere; see sections on the principles of a system of sociology, ethics, and politics, I (1968), 203-513; on social sciences, sociology, politics, and ethics in their unitary interdependence, II (1969), 8-40; politics: a system including the means of achieving social and ethical vlaues and norms of future social realities, III (1970), 5-175. 4. Nerej: Un village d'une région archaïque, ed. H. H. stahl, 3 vols. (Ducure?ti: Institutul de ?tiinte Sociale al Romaniei, 1940), Clopotiva: Un sat din 2 vols. (Bucure?ti: Institutul Social roman, 1940; Drfigug. Un sat din Tar Oltului, ed. Traian Herseni, 8 vols. (Bucure?ti: Institutul de ?tiin?e sociale ale Romaniei, 1944-46); Ddmbounic: 0 plasa din judetul Argefj, eds. Anton Golopen?ia and Mihai Pop, with contributions by Nicolae Dunare, in Sociologie Romaneasca (Bucure?ti, 1939-42); 60 de sate romlineqti, eds. Anton Golopentia and D. C. Georgescu, 5 vols. (Ducure?ti: Institutul de §tiinte sociale al Romaniei, 1941-44). 5. Arta populara din Valea Jiului, ed. Nicolae Dunare, 2 vols. (Bucure§ti: Editura Academie, 1963); Tara Blrsei, ed. Nicolae DunSre, 2 vols. (Bucure?ti, 1972-74); Bistri?a N?saud, ed. Nicolae Dunàre (Bistri?a: Comitetul Judetean de Cultura 1977); Marginenii Sibiului, eds. C. Irimie, N. Dunäre, and P. Petrescu (Bucure§ti: Editura ?tiin?ificä §i enciclopedicl, 1985). 6. T. Herseni, Teoria monografiei sociologice (1934); H. H. Stahl, Tehnica monografiei sociologice; D. Gusti, Sociologia militans: Instroducere in sociologia politica; T. Herseni, Realitatea sociall- Incercare de ontologie