ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to identify and ground the existence of different profiles of construction of sociological knowledge in the one-dimensional social-political, ideological and epistemological space of the communist party-state. Thus formulated, the basic research hypothesis argues the view of an existing unity of totalitarian experiences of Eastern European sociologies, a unity that is due to the "community of shared destinies" formed by the Central and Eastern European countries after World War II. The entire post-war history of sociology in communist countries until the disintegration of their political system shows that, despite the hostile conditions in which it was practiced, it succeeded in maintaining the scientific tradition of knowledge production. The carriers of sociological knowledge placed sociology in a sort of hibernation, waiting for better times for public legitimation of the science. The institutional elimination of sociology deprived cognitive activities not only of the requisite facilities, but also of the equally important social legitimation.