From Past to Present: An Overview of the History of Sociology in Romania

The present chapter will discuss the role sociologists had in the modern evolution of Romanian society, politics, and debates around ideas, following three axes: activism, politics, and academia. We are interested in the role that sociology has played across different political regimes in shaping the discourse regarding social issues and inequalities, offering the intellectual groundwork for public policies, providing technical expertise to political elites, legitimising particular discourses over others (with regard to attitudes towards social issues, macroeconomic policy, etc.), as well as in adapting Western sociological discourses and ideas to the local context and its particularities.