The Bucharest School of Sociology and the Failure of the Interwar Community Development Project

• Author: Bucur, B.
• Position: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Political Sciences, National School of Political and Administrative Studies
• Pages: 93-102

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 6 (56) No. 2 - 2013

THE BUCHAREST SCHOOL OF

SOCIOLOGY AND THE FAILURE

OF THE INTERWAR COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Bogdan BUCUR1

Abstract: In interwar Romania, the Bucharest School of Sociology, founded

by academician Dimitrie Gusti, theorized and implemented the first

integrated program of community development, financed from the state

budget, through the “Prince Carol” Royal Cultural Foundation, under the

patronage of King Carol II. In this article [1] we will review the main causes

leading to the failure of this project, aimed at culturally and materially lifting

the Romanian village from its state of underdevelopment: on the one hand,

peasants’ illiteracy, poverty, passivity and distrust of modernity and on the

other, intellectual arrogance, lack of resources, Dimitrie Gusti’s utopian

vision, combined with the inefficiency of the education system and failure of

agriculture.

Key words: Sociological School of Bucharest, “Prince Carol” Royal

Cultural Foundation, Dimitrie Gusti, Royal Student Teams, Social Service

Teams.

1 Department of Sociology, Faculty of Political Sciences, National School of Political and Administrative

Studies.

1. Introduction

In the interwar period, the Bucharest

School of Sociology, led by Academician

Dimitrie Gusti, introduced the first

integrated community development project

for the Romanian society, aimed at lifting

the villages of Greater Romania from their

underdevelopment.

Through the Prince Carol Royal Cultural

Foundation, under the patronage of King

Carol II and the executive management of

Professor Dimitrie Gusti, mixed groups of

students – first voluntarily (1934-1938),

later mandatorily enrolled (1938-1939) –

and technicians, under the supervision of

an inspector, were sent in rural areas to

raise the cultural and material state of the

peasantry by means of direct social action

or social engineering. The Royal Student

Teams (RST) (1934-1938) and Social

Service Teams (SST) (1938-1939)

provided the rural communities, for a few

months a year during the university

summer holidays, with medical and

veterinary services as well as agricultural

support by sowing, ploughing, doing

household work, plantings and grafting of

fruit trees. Public lectures, courses and

various practical demonstrations were

conducted. Public works were carried out:

county roads, local roads, bridges and