Dimitrie Gusti 2018 stampsheet of Romania

Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n sociologist,

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

, historian, and voluntarist

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

; a professor at the

University of Iaşi The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of Education in 1932–1933. Gusti was elected a member of the Romanian Academy in 1919, and was its president between 1944 and 1946. He was the main contributor to the creation of a new Romanian school of sociology. He was a prominent member of the Peasants' Party, and later of the National Peasants' Party into which the former had merged.

Biography

Born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, he began studying Letters at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

before moving on to the Universität unter den Linden and the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, where he studied and completed a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in Philosophy (1904). In 1905, he began the study of Sociology, Law, and

Political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

at the Universität unter den Linden. Gusti was appointed to the Department of Ancient History,

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and Sociology of the University of Iași in 1910, and was one of the main contributors to the creation of a new Romanian school of sociology. He moved to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

in 1920, and began work as a professor at the University of Bucharest, in the Department of Sociology, Ethics, Politics, and

Aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

of the latter's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy. His lectures became a center of interest inside the academic community, and he attracted students with diverse backgrounds and political convictions (the

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Mircea Vulcănescu Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...

, the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Miron Constantinescu, the Austromarxist

Henri H. Stahl Henri H. Stahl (also known as Henry H. Stahl or H. H. Stahl; 1901 – 9 September 1991) was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian. Biography Born in Bucharest to a family of Alsatian and F ...

, and the left-wing artist

Lena Constante Lena Constante (June 18, 1909 – November 2005) was a Romanian artist, essayist and memoirist, known for her work in stage design and tapestry. A family friend of Communist Party politician Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, she was arrested by the Comm ...

). Creator of the Bucharest School of Sociology and several Institutes, he also led, between 1925 and 1948, the intense research of Romanian villages and the publishing of its results as detailed monographs (a work in which he was notably assisted by

Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa (October 22, 1895–December 17, 1989) was a Romanian sociologist, journalist, left-wing politician, and diplomat. Biography Origins and work with Gusti Born in Răcoasa, Vrancea County, his parents were Constantin ...

and Stahl). In 1936, together with Stahl and

Victor Ion Popa Victor Ion Popa (; July 29, 1895 in Bârlad – March 30, 1946 in Bucharest) was a Romanian dramatist. He went to primary school in the village of Călmăţui, a village in the Grivița commune, in the former Tutova County, where his father was a ...

, Gusti created the

Village Museum The Village Museum formally National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti" (''Muzeul Național al Satului "Dimitrie Gusti"'' in Romanian) is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the King Michael I Park (Bucharest, Romania), showcasing tra ...

. He left the National Peasants' Party after 1938, disagreeing with its decision to oppose the

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...

regime of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Carol II, and collaborated with the newly created

National Renaissance Front The National Renaissance Front ( ro, Frontul Renașterii Naționale, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romani ...

. Consequently, he was threatened by the rise of the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...

(with the late 1940 establishment of the

National Legionary State The National Legionary State was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian Fascism, fascist regime which governed Kingdom of Romania, Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led by ...

); following the

Legionary Rebellion Between 21 and 23 January 1941, a rebellion of the Iron Guard paramilitary organization, whose members were known as Legionnaires, occurred in Bucharest, Romania. As their privileges were being gradually removed by the ''Conducător'' Ion Ant ...

and the Guard's defeat, he sent a congratulatory telegram to ''

Conducător ''Conducător'' (, "Leader") was the title used officially by Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu during World War II, also occasionally used in official discourse to refer to Carol II and Nicolae Ceaușescu. History The word is derived from the Rom ...

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Gusti was approached by the new Communist government with offers of collaboration. He was invited to attend official ceremonies inside the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and was a member of the

Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

. He died in Bucharest in 1955, and was buried at

Eternitatea Cemetery Eternitatea is the biggest cemetery in Iași, Romania. Notable interments * Vasile Adamachi, philanthropist * Petre Andrei, sociologist and politician * Dimitrie Anghel, poet and writer * Alexandru Bădărău, politician, academic, and journa ...

Theory

Gusti defined his view on society as dependent on a set of principles: *Society is composed of " social units", as groups of humans linked by a voluntary organizing activity and interconnected spiritually. *The essence of life is "social will". *"Social will" is expressed in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

, both of which are regulated by law and politics. *"Social will" is conditioned by factors which are included in four fundamental and parallel categories: cosmical,

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...

, and historical. *The changes engineered by the factors are known as " social processes". *The premises of development one can observe in present society, and thus can predict with some accuracy, are known as "social trends". A creator of the sociological ''monographic method'' (as still used by his Bucharest School), Gusti favored and theoretised first-hand intensive observation of social units and phenomena, as well as

interdisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

, with the research work being carried out through intensive collaboration within the field of

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

, but also with doctors, agronomists, schoolteachers, etc.

Main works

*''Egoismus und Altruismus'', 1904 *''Die soziologischen Betrehungen in der neuen Ethik'', 1908 *''Cosmologia elenă'', 1929 *''Sociologia militans'', (vol. 1, 1935; vols. 2–3, 1946) *''Enciclopedia României'', vols. I-IV, Bucharest, 1938, 1943 *''Cunoaştere şi acţiune în serviciul naţiunii'', (2 vols., 1939) *''Problema sociologiei'', 1940 *''La science de la réalité sociale'', 1941

Notes

Cited sources

* Lucian Boia, ed. (1998) ''Miturile comunismului românesc'' (''The Myths of Romanian Communism''), Editura Nemira, Bucharest. **Ovidiu Bozgan, "Traiectorii universitare: de la stânga interbelică la comunism" ("University Trajectories: from Interwar Left to Communism"), pp. 309–335 **

Adrian Cioroianu Adrian Mihai Cioroianu (born January 5, 1967, Craiova, Romania) is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with R ...

, "Lumina vine de la Răsărit. «Noua imagine» a Uniunii Sovietice în România postbelică, 1944–1947" ("The Light Arises in the East. The Soviet Union's «New Image» of Postwar Romania, 1944–1947"), p. 21–68 *

''Şcoala sociologică a lui Dimitrie Gusti'' ("Dimitrie Gusti's Sociological School")
*Ioan Scurtu, "PNL și PNȚ: Rezerve, nemulțumiri, proteste. Partidele istorice sub guvernarea antonesciano-legionară" ("PNL and PNȚ: Reserves, Dissatisfactions, Protests, Historical Parties under the Antonescu-Legionary Government"), in ''Dosarele Istoriei'', 9/2000

External links