Alienation Theory and Research in the 1970s–80s and the Problem of Socialism

• In Event: Left Perspectives on State- and Post-Socialism I: Alienation Theory and Socialist Practice in Postwar Eastern Europe

Abstract

The 1970s–80s were the heyday of international collaboration and exchange on issues of alienation with the research committee on Alienation Theory and Research of the International Sociological Association being one of the main hubs for interdisciplinary scholarly debate that encompassed conceptual, methodological, and theoretical perspectives stemming from around the globe. In spite of its international aspirations, however, members from socialist countries were few and far between, and engagement across political divides was difficult. Analyzing the research committee’s presence at World Congresses of Sociology in the 1970s–80s (Toronto 1974, Uppsala 1978, Mexico City 1982, New Delhi 1986, Madrid 1990), this presentation asks about Eastern European sociologists’ involvement in the field of alienation research and at the articulation of socialism and alienation as a theoretical problem with global implications.

Author

• Adela Hincu, Inst of Contemporary History (Slovenia)