Sociological Research in Late Socialist Albania

What is it about?

In the mid-1980s, during the late socialist period of the communist dictatorship in Albania, the belief in the Marxist Leninist ideology and instrumental use of nationalist ideology combined started to wane. The representatives of the socialist dictatorship started to pursue a more tolerant policy with regards to social sciences, allowing the establishment of a research and teaching unit of sociology at the State University of Tirana. The political ideologues of the dictatorship evoked progressive universalist references to humanities and sought to benefit from sociological research, hoping to respond to existing policy and social issues. Prior to this endeavor and policy shift in the social sciences, the intelligentsia, albeit its importance to the regime, was not autonomous and independent. The article explains how the emergence of the sociological research allowed the cultural intelligentsia to attain a considerable degree of autonomy, and as such transitioning into public intellectuals defending the obligations and demands of their profession facing the political power.

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Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash

Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research is important because it challenges the assumed totalitarian depiction of the socialist dictatorship in Albania, from the onset of the communist rule until 1990. On the one hand, this article emphasizes the dynamics and processes of interaction between the cultural intelligentsia and the political power in a dictatorship. On the other hand, the research highlights the similarity, albeit limited, with other communist East European countries involved in sociological research during communist rule.

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