Strategies for the survival of the Gusti School during 1939-1948

Abstract

This article presents and analyzes the survival strategies of the Gusti School during 1939-1948. The specialized literature includes consistent information about the Gusti School, the monographs and research carried out, the School’s publications and the institutions in which the members of the Gusti School have been active. However, this article points out the important moments of the gustist activity after 1939, as forms of survival, through the documentary analysis of the texts published at that time, the documents of the Romanian Academy, as well as the subsequent sociological materials. An important part of the actions that indicate a certain type of strategy were extracted: journalism, the insistence to increase the sociological activity, even in conditions of war or the work carried out in different administrative positions. How was the activity of the Gusti School viewed after 1939 and what were the survival strategies? What were the main methods and strategies for promoting the Gusti School? In what (emergency) formula did the student teams continue their work? Is it possible to research in a time of war? Answering all these questions, we conclude that during 1939-1948, despite oppressive actions and purges targeting the Gusti School, its representatives managed to impose themselves, continuing the work to the limit allowed by the given political situations.