Banat-Crişana Social Institute and Monographic Research
Banat-Crişana Social Institute and Monographic Research

Summary/Abstract: Banat-Crişana Social Institute of Timişoara was the most important regional institute for social research, its activity being chiefly focused on monographic sociology. Concerned in meeting the need to introduce a “positivist” perspective in administrative and political action, the members of the Institute did not practice “sociology for sociology’s sake” like the researchers of the Romanian Social Institute of Bucharest; on the contrary, they programmatically chose to dedicate themselves to applied sociology. Another feature that distinguished the Institute of Banat within the monographic paradigm was the shift from the all-inclusive approach to a social entity, a village for instance, to a certain social phenomenon/process manifested there. Banat-Crişana Social Institute initiated and practiced an approach that went in parallel with Dimitrie Gusti’s “comprehensive village monographs” i.e. a research that the literature in the field recorded under the name of “special topic monograph”. However, the focus on special topic analysis did not mark a major breach with monographic study as such. The field research conducted by the Institute of Banat was more than a mere approach to certain topics/phenomena/processes, it implied the idea that the latter could be explained only by the context (social entity) in which they evolved. Moreover, their method was similar to that employed in the monographic field research of Gusti’s teams, the study being accompanied by a sustained social and cultural activity. The “breach” chiefly consisted in the fact that the research was concluded with programs of measures and solutions forwarded to the authorities, which the latter rather ignored, so that the endeavor of the Banat researchers materialized in well-argued solutions was to a great extent not turned to account.

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