Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 486

Title

Endre Sik Personal Papers

Date(s)

1981 - 2018

Description Level

Fonds

Extent and medium (processed)

1 Archival boxes, 0.12 linear meters

Context

Name of creator(s)

Sik, Endre

Administrative / Biographical history

Endre Sik is an important and colorful personality of Hungarian sociology, whose work is essential in the sociological exploration of the role of social capital and in migration research. 
Sik graduated from the University of Agricultural Sciences in Gödöllő with a degree in agricultural economics in 1973. In 1974, he received his doctorate in agricultural economics and studied sociology at the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Arts (ELTE BTK). He obtained his doctorate in economics in 1981, and a candidate's degree in sociology in 1985. In 2006, he became a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). The topic of his academic doctoral thesis was the sociological exploration of the role of social capital. In 2007, he completed his habilitation at the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Eötvös Loránd University.
Since 1990, Sik has been a scientific advisor at the Társadalomkutatási Intézet (TÁRKI) research institute. Between 2000 and 2003, he was Chief Advisor at the Central Statistical Office, worked at the Budapest University of Economics, the Institute of Social Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Minority Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and he was also on the staff of the Center for International Migration and Refugee Research. He was the president of the Migration Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, of Menedék–Migránsokat Segítő Alapítvány (Menedék-Hungarian Association for Migrants), and of the Hungarian Sociological Society. He was the founder and president of Menedék.
In 2003, he was awarded for his work with the Ipolyi Arnold Award, and in 2004 with the Károly Polányi Award.
He is currently a lecturer at the University of Debrecen, and professor emeritus of the Department of Minority Sociology, Institute of Social Relations at ELTE. His main research areas are the sociology of migration and the economy, xenophobia, and the methodology of sociology.
Endre Sik recognized very early on that migration will be one of the greatest challenges in the future of modern societies. Thus, in the last two decades, he has been exploring migration processes and dealing with the issues of social integration of refugees. During his career, he researched the social implications of relational capital, family income, alcohol consumption, and deviance, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) markets, and labor market conditions, territorial inequalities, the issues of discrimination, corruption, and prejudices. In the course of his research on prejudice, he introduced the concept of the Pirezes (In Hungarian: Pirézek. The Pirezes are an invented, non-existent people), thereby showing that people can refuse to accept the unknown even if that unknown is, in fact, non-existent. "In Hungary, it is not a shame to be xenophobic, it is more of a glory."
He taught about the labor market at the International University of Dubrovnik, organizational sociology at the University of Toronto, and on the sociology of the informal economy at the University of Notre Dame. He taught the subject "Second economy in post-communism" at Central European University in Prague. He lectured on the sociology of immigration for several years at the European Inter-University Centre (EIUC) in Venice. He has published more than a hundred publications in Hungarian and in other languages, and his publications are referenced by numerous Hungarian and foreign researchers. He is a sought-after consultant in many expert committees of the European Union and of Hungary, he participates in important international research projects, and his expertise is sought both at home and abroad in tender evaluations.
Endre Sik is very popular among his students, his witty lectures, his humor, and professionally delivered classes are much appreciated by them.
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Archival history

The documents have been donated to Blinken OSA Archivum by Endre Sik in November, 2023.

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

The fonds contains the documents of Endre Sik on MUKI (in Hungarian: Munkaközvetítő Iroda, in English: Employment Agency), the employment agency, which was informally and illegally established in August 1980 in Budapest. A detailed presentation of MUKI and its documents is found in the description of the only archival series that makes up this fonds.

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Languages

Hungarian

Description Control

Archivist's note

Arranged by Mark László-Herbert. Descriptions by Erzsébet Szöllősi. Published on January 25, 2024.