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Contested Science: The Pivotal Role of Herbert Spencer and Biological Approaches in Hungary’s First Sociological Journal
Mon, July 13, 9:15 to 10:45am, EICC, Floor: -1, Conference Organisers RoomEnglish Abstract
The history of Hungarian sociology mirrors the country’s own fractured modernity, marked by political upheaval, ruptures, and intellectual reinventions. Its first institutional forum, the journal Huszadik Század (Twentieth Century, 1900–1919), stands out as a vibrant and internationally engaged platform that helped define the contours of Hungarian social science at its inception. The leading article of its very first issue—a short text by Herbert Spencer—symbolized both the journal’s scientific ambitions and its complex orientation toward Western thought.
This paper explores how Spencer’s evolutionary sociology and its associated biological vocabulary shaped early Hungarian sociological discourse and influenced the identity of Huszadik Század as a professional institution. By tracing the reception, translation, and reinterpretation of Spencer’s theories within the Hungarian intellectual field, it reveals a process that transcended simple diffusion or centre–periphery transfer. Instead, Hungarian scholars engaged in a transformation of Spencerian ideas, adapting them to local epistemic hierarchies and political tensions – to the extent possible. The limitations of this process are manifested in the abandonment of Spencer’s approach after a few years.
The paper argues that (1) knowledge transfer is conditioned by the epistemic status of both its producers and recipients; (2) the circulation of hybrid theories—combining natural, social, and ideological elements—poses unique challenges; (3) such circulation is itself a productive act, generating new, contextually embedded forms of knowledge. In this sense, Huszadik Század exemplifies how contested science became foundational science in Hungary’s sociological beginnings.