Počiatky inštitucionalizovanej sociológie náboženstva a prvý reprezentatívny výskumu religiozity obyvateľov Slovenska

Miroslav Tížik

Article type: štúdia / study

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The Beginnings of an Institutionalized Sociology of Religion and the First Survey of Religiosity in Slovakia. In research on the history of Slovak sociology, little attention has been paid to the history and development of the sociology of religion. In research that has addressed the institutionalization of sociology in the 1960’s and of the sociology of religion within the broader framework of the history of the discipline in Slovakia, attention has largely concentrated on noteworthy individual researchers. As a result, the history of empirical sociology in Slovakia has omitted the role played by a team of people who, in autumn 1968, conducted the first known Slovakia-wide survey of religiosity. Since the original filled-in survey questionnaires have been found, it is now possible to reconstruct the survey and thoroughly analyse its results, while at the same time conducting new research into the forms of religiosity present in Slovakia at the end of the 1960’s, which enables us to correct some previous results and, above all, to interpret adequately the partial survey results that were available after the autumn 1968 survey was conducted. This involved a process both of survey reconstruction and of uncovering and mapping the not-quite-successful beginnings of the institutionalization of the sociology of religion in Slovakia. In addition, this work exposed how important collective activity was in preparing the survey, and how dependent it was on the changing conditions of political power during the implementation of empirical sociological research, and during the survey research in particular, at this period in the history of reestablishment of sociology in Slovakia. Sociológia 2016, Vol. 48 (No. 5: 500-538) . In research on the history of Slovak sociology, little attention has been paid to the history and development of the sociology of religion. In research that has addressed the institutionalization of sociology in the 1960’s and of the sociology of religion within the broader framework of the history of the discipline in Slovakia, attention has largely concentrated on noteworthy individual researchers. As a result, the history of empirical sociology in Slovakia has omitted the role played by a team of people who, in autumn 1968, conducted the first known Slovakia-wide survey of religiosity. Since the original filled-in survey questionnaires have been found, it is now possible to reconstruct the survey and thoroughly analyse its results, while at the same time conducting new research into the forms of religiosity present in Slovakia at the end of the 1960’s, which enables us to correct some previous results and, above all, to interpret adequately the partial survey results that were available after the autumn 1968 survey was conducted. This involved a process both of survey reconstruction and of uncovering and mapping the not-quite-successful beginnings of the institutionalization of the sociology of religion in Slovakia. In addition, this work exposed how important collective activity was in preparing the survey, and how dependent it was on the changing conditions of political power during the implementation of empirical sociological research, and during the survey research in particular, at this period in the history of reestablishment of sociology in Slovakia. Sociológia 2016, Vol. 48 (No. 5: 500-538)