Yale Sociology » Iván Szelényi

Iván Szelényi

Vita : download PDF

William Graham Sumner Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Professor of Political Science

Iván Szelényi (Ph.D. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1973) works on social inequalities from a comparative and historical perspective. Recently, he conducted large scale surveys on changing stratification system in European post-communist countries and currently he is working on poverty and ethnicity in transitional societies. His last book Patterns of Exclusion was published in 2006 by Columbia University Press. His earlier publications include The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power (Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, 1979), Urban Inequalities Under State Socialism (Oxford University Press, 1983), Socialist Entrepreneurs (Polity Press, 1988), Making Capitalism Without Capitalists (Verso, 1998), Poverty, Ethnicity and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition (with R. Emigh, Greenwood Press, 2001), and Theories of the New Class: Intellectuals and Power (with L. King, University of Minnesota Press, 2004).

Recent Publications

Books

Szelényi, Iván and Tomas Kolosi (2010). How to become a billionaire? (With Tamas Kolosi), Budapest. Corvina Publishing House, 2010.
Szelényi, Iván (2010). Essays on Socialism, Post-communism and the New Class Beijing: Academy Press. (Chinese translation of 13 essays, published between 1978-2005 with a new introduction).
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2006) (In Hungarian: Budapest: Napvilag, 2004). Patterns of Exclusion: Constructing Gypsy Ethnicity and the Making of an Underclass in Transitional Societies of Europe. This book was the winner of the Karl Polanyi Prize of the best scholarly publication for the year of the Hungarian Sociological Association New York: Columbia University Press.
King, Lawrence P. and Iván Szelényi (2004). Theories of the New Class: Intellectuals and Power. University of Minnesota Press.
Emigh, Rebecca Jean and Iván; Szelényi (eds.) (2001). Poverty, Ethnicity and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Eyal, Gil, Iván Szelényi and Eleanor Townsley (1998). Making Capitalism Without Capitalists: The New Ruling Elites in Eastern Europe. London: Verso. Published in Korean language, Seoul: Shi Yu Shi, 2000, in Romanian language, Bucuresti: Editura Omega, 2001. Chinese translation by Academic Press, Beijing, 2008, Russian translation, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev, 2008

Chapters

Szelényi, Iván (2010). “Preface to the Chinese edition of Essays on Socialism, Pos-Communism and the New Class” in Essays on Socialism, Post-communism and the New Class. Beijing: Academy Press (Chinese translation of 13 essays, published between 1978-2005 with a new introduction). .
Szelényi, Iván (2010). “Capitalism in China? Comparative Perspectives” in Yin-wah Chu (ed) Chinese Capitalisms (ed) Chinese Capitalisms Hong Kong: Palgrave Macmillan. in B. Szelényi and P. Reill (eds.), Core, Periphery and Globalization. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
Szelényi, Iván (2010). “The Rise and Fall of the Second Bildungsbürgertum,” in B. Szelényi and P. Reill (eds.), Core, Periphery and Globalization. Toronto: Toronto University Press.
Szelényi, Iván (2010). “Maria Markus and the (Re)-Invention of Hungarian Sociology” Thesis Eleven.
Szelényi, Iván and Katarzyna Wilk (2010) “Poverty and popular mobilization in post-communist societies”, in Ian Kubik (ed). Justice, Hegemony and Social Movements. New York: SSRC.
Szelényi, Iván and Katarzyna Wilk (2010) “From socialist workfare to capitalist welfare state”(with Katarzyna Wilk) in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis Oxford: Oxford University Press. Justice, Hegemony and Social Movements. New York: SSRC.
Szelényi, Iván (2008) “Introduction to the Chinese edition of Making Capitalism without Capitalists”, Beijing: Academic Press.
Szelényi, Iván and Lawrence P. King (2005). “The New Capitalism of Eastern Europe: Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Post-communism,” in N. Smelser and R. Swedberg (eds.), Handbook of Economic Sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Szelényi, Iván and Christy M. Glass (2003). “Winners of the Reforms: The New Economic and Political Elite,” in V. Mikhalev (ed.), Inequality and Social Structure During the Transition. Macmillan Press.
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2002). “Prospects and Limits on New Social Democracy in Transitional Societies of Central Europe,” in A. Bozoki and J. T. Ishiyama (eds.), Communist Successor Parties a Decade After: Reform or Transmutation? Armonk, NY: Sharpe.
Szelényi, Iván and Eric Hanley (2001). “Changing Social Structure During Market Transition: The Case of Central Europe,” pp. 101-148 in F. Tarifa (ed.), The Breakdown of State Socialism and the Emerging Post-Socialist Order. The Hague: Center for the Study of Transition and Development.
Szelényi, Iván; Rebecca Emigh and Eva Fodor (2001). “The Racialization and Feminization of Poverty?” pp. 1-32 in R. Emigh and I. Szelényi (eds.), Poverty, Ethnicity and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Articles

“Making capitalism without capitalists – revisited,” in International Political Anthropology, 2008, No.1. pp. 138-148
“A Theory of Transitions”, in Modern China, 2008, No.1, pp.165-178
“Varieties of Post-communist Capitalisms: Convergences and Divergences”, in Heinz-Dieter Assmann, Thomas M.H. Chan, Karin Moser v. Filseck (ed). Perceptions and Images of China. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2008, pp.13-35
“Max Weber’s Theory of Capitalism and Varieties of Post-communist Capitalisms”(with Larry King), in Angewandte Sozialforschung, 2006, No.3-4, pp. 175-185
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2005). “Patterns of Exclusion: Historical Changes in the Structural Position of Roma in a Central European Village,” Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 160: 66-87. (In French.)
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2005). “La formation d’un sous-proletariat rom”(with János Ladányi, in French language), Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, December 2005, No. 160, pp. 67-88 Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales, 160: 66-87. (In French.)
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2005). “Poverty After the Fall of Socialism: Over-Time and Cross-National Comparisons,” The Analyst, October 2005. (In Hungarian and English.)
“The New Capitalism of Eastern Europe: Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Post-communism”(with Larry King) in Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg (eds): Handbook of Economic Sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005
“Winners of the reforms: the new economic and political elite” in Vladimir Mikhalev (ed). Inequality and Social Structure during the Transition” (with Christy Glass). Macmillan, 2003
Szelényi, Iván, Gil Eyal and Eleanor Townsley (2003). “On Irony: An Invitation to Neo-Classical Sociology,” Thesis Eleven, 73: 5-41. (Published in German in Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 13 (1): 5-34, 2003.)
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2003). “Historical Variations in Inter-Ethnic Relations: Toward a Social History of Roma in Csenyéte, 1857-2000,” Romani Studies, 13 (1): 1-51.
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2002). “The Nature and Social Determinants of Roma Poverty: A Cross-National Comparison,” Review of Sociology, 2.
Szelényi, Iván (2002). “An Outline of the Social History of Socialism, Or an Auto-Critique of an Autocritique,” Research in Social Stratification, 19: 36-65. “Prospects and Limits on New Social Democracy in Transitional Societies of Central Europe” (with János Ladányi) in Andras Bozoki and John T. Ishiyama (eds) Communist Successor Parties a Decade After – Reform or Transmutation? Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe 2002
Szelényi, Iván (2001). “Poverty, Ethnicity and Gender in Transitional Societies: Introduction,” Review of Sociology, 2: 5-10.
Szelényi, Iván and János Ladányi (2001). “Social Construction of Roma Ethnicity in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary During Market Transition,” Review of Sociology, 2: 78-89.
“Changing Social Structure during Market Transition – the Case of Central Europe” (with Eric Hanley). In Fatos Tarifa (ed). The Breakdown of State Socialism and the Emerging Post-socialist Order. The Hague: Center for the Study of Transition and Development, 2001, pp. 101-148
“The Racialization and Feminization of Poverty?” (with Rebecca Emigh and Eva Fodor), in Rebecca Emigh and Ivan Szelenyi (eds), Poverty Ethnicity and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition, Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 2001, pp. 1-32
Szelényi, Iván, Gil Eyal and Eleanor Townsley (2001). “The Utopia of Postsocialist Theory and the Ironic View of History in Neoclassical Sociology,” American Journal of Sociology, 106 (4): 1121-1128.

Courses and Seminars

Undergraduate

SOCY151, Foundations of Modern Social Theory.
SOCY160, Methods of Inquiry.
SOCY332, Class, Race and Gender.
SOCY337, Urban Poverty and Policy.
SOCY471, Individual Study (Fall); SOCY472, Individual Study (Spring)
SOCY491, Senior Essay and Colloquium for Non-Intensive Majors (Fall); SOCY492, (Spring)
SOCY493, Senior Essay and Colloquium for Intensive Majors.

Graduate

SOCY501: Foundations of Sociological Theory.
SOCY526: Social Stratification.
SOCY560: Comparative Research Workshop.

Department of Sociology

Iván Szelényi

Contact Information

Downloads