Sociologie Românească (Romanian Sociology Review)
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CERCETARE, DEZVOLTARE ȘI INTERVENȚIE ÎN ASISTENȚĂ SOCIALĂ. Editura Tritonic, București, 2024. Doru Buzducea (coord.)
Full text linkThe coordinator of the book is Doru Buzducea, university professor and at the same time, starting with 2024, director of the Doctoral School of Social Work, within the University of Bucharest. The work, consisting of 15 chapters, is based on a detailed analysis of the triad research – development – intervention in social work. Offering a modern perspective, it addresses a wide range of topics, bringing current topics in the field of social work to the general public and to the specialized public
“It will be a joy when they start working again” Bucharest’s public water fountains and the strategies used by the homeless to access drinking water
Full text linkThis paper approaches the issue of public water from a qualitative perspective, using semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of homeless individuals using drinking fountains, the strategies used in order to obtain potable water, as well as access to toilets and personal hygiene. The theoretical and methodological framework of the paper draws on the legacy of Gusti’s Sociological School, focusing on fieldwork and direct observation. Interviews show that homeless people regularly use the drinking fountains, but they are taken out of service during the cold season. In order to access drinking water, homeless people resort to an informal network of social organizations, pharmacies, restaurants and interpersonal relationships with employees of private businesses, consume liquids from unfinished drinks or, when they can afford it, buy bottled water. In implementing these strategies, homeless people must navigate the stigma and prejudice of others, which can make it more difficult for them to access water, toilets and hygiene
Living Without Water: Drought, Inequality, and Climate Silence in a Romanian Village
Full text linkThis article analyzes the experience of the water crisis in a Romanian village affected by drought, placing its approach in the context of the Centenary of the Bucharest School of Sociology. Drawing on ethnographic research and an auto-ethnographic perspective, the study investigates how inequality of access to water is structured by administrative failures and infrastructural gaps. Using Dimitrie Gusti's conceptual apparatus of “frames” and “manifestations” as an analytical tool, the paper demonstrates how an ecological phenomenon (drought) is socially transformed into a crisis of governance and mistrust. The analysis also highlights the phenomenon of “climate silence”, arguing that this is not just a consequence of a lack of information but an active social response to a crisis perceived as overwhelming and insoluble at the local level. By placing the lived experiences of villagers in dialogue with debates in political ecology and environmental sociology, the article contributes to understanding how ecological precarity is mediated by everyday inequalities and silences discourses about systemic causes. Finally, the paper emphasizes the enduring heuristic relevance of the monographic tradition for the analysis of contemporary socio-ecological issues
Aging, Agency and Anti-Aging Discourses: A Mixed-Methods Study on Romanian Women 50+ and the Revival of Gustian Sociology
Full text linkIn recent decades, old age has increasingly been framed in aesthetic, commercial, and technological discourses. For older women in particular, old age has come to be depicted less and less naturally and more and more as a problem to be addressed or concealed, creating both symbolic exclusion and new markets for “peri-menopausal wellness” or “anti-aging” products. Digital culture intensifies these imperatives within a paradox in which older women become invisible within mainstream publicity while hyper-visible as targets for beauty and health markets. In Romania, these dynamics converge with a distinct post-socialist path. Women aged 50 and above were raised during the period of state socialism, which utilized femininity for demographic objectives while simultaneously limiting consumerism. Following the workshops of 1989, neoliberal principles emphasizing self-optimization, beauty, and digital skills brought forth new contradictions, resulting in many women navigating the tension between traditional caregiving roles and modern expectations for productivity and youthfulness. This article looks at how Romanian women over 50 respond to anti-aging narrative in virtual and corporeal spaces. Based on questionnaire data among respondents in the 50 Plus Community and ethnographic observation at a wellness workshop (“Am curajul să trăiesc!” [“I have the courage to live!”], May 2025), research balances quantitative scope and qualitative depth. It explores how women interpret, oppose, and recast cultural narratives about aging against the background of centennial reflections on Dimitrie Gusti’s first monographic field studies and his methodological spirit revived to respond to twenty-first-century challenges
The Gospel According to St Matthew? Excluded Groups, Cumulative Disadvantage and Labour Market Intervention
Full text linkActive labour market policies (ALMPs) are intended to reduce the uncertainty in labour markets for the most vulnerable groups through the improvement of skills. Further, this is expected to promote economic and social inclusion. However, research on the topic remains sparse and evidence suggests access biases in these interventions for the most vulnerable people. While Romania forms the focus of our inquiry, the wider lessons for Central Europe and other countries are considered. Our paper contributes to research on cumulative disadvantages on ALMPs provided by public employment services (PES) to improve access and participation in activation interventions. Between February and April 2024, we undertook 38 interviews with occupational and social work professionals designated as “experts” in public institutions in Romania. Our results confirm the existence of cumulative disadvantages in access to training and counselling provided by PES for three categories of people affected by unemployment. The low-skilled, the poorest and the extremely marginalised (the “invisible”) are confronted by specific mechanisms of cumulative disadvantages that impede them from participating in ALMPs. We also identify best practices for enhancing access to these interventions and promoting social inclusion more broadly. The originality of the paper lies in its examination of the topic from the perspective of experts as sources of critical opinion on policy issues. Further research could focus on producing complementary data on the topic
Conferința omagială „Dimitrie Gusti, fondatorul sociologiei și promotorul culturii românești”, Sala de Consiliu a Bibliotecii Centrale Universitare „Carol I”, 26 septembrie 2025
Full text linkThe year 2025 marks the 145th anniversary of the birth and 70 years since the passing of Dimitrie Gusti, the founder of the Romanian sociology. Moreover, we celebrate a century since the first sociological field research, carried out by Dimitrie Gusti and his colleagues from the Bucharest Sociological School in the Goicea Mare village, Dolj County.
Thus, this event is a tribute to the prominent personality of Dimitrie Gusti, who contributed to the creation of Romanian sociology and promoted national culture both domestically and abroad, by developing sociological research methods and techniques, by encouraging researchers, by preserving the cultural heritage, and by establishing institutions and organizations.
The speakers of this conference represented several institutions which were either founded or managed at some point by Dimitrie Gusti, such as The National Museum of the Village, „Dimitrie Gusti”; the RADOR Press Agency, the Romanian Academy, the Research Institute for Quality of Life, but also institutions with which Dimitrie Gusti collaborated, such as the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Through the presentations and the discussions held during this conference, we emphasized Dimitrie Gusti's contribution to Romania's development. Moreover, we discussed the ways in which Dimitrie Gusti's instruments and methodology can be used to identify and solve multiple contemporary socio-economic issues, such as school dropout, the development gap between rural and urban areas, depopulation and demographic decline
CONFERINȚA INTERNAȚIONALĂ DE ETNO-DIDACTICĂ „PATRIMONIU CULTURAL IMATERIAL FĂRĂ FRONTIERE”, EDIȚIA A X-A, IAȘI, 24-25 OCTOMBRIE 2025
Full text linkBetween October 24 and 25, 2025, the “Alexandru Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology, Department of Ethnology, of Romanian Academy, Iasi branch, organized the 10th International Conference on Ethno-Didactics: Intangible Cultural Heritage Without Borders. The conference focused on the future of intangible cultural heritage in the current context of its gradual exploitation through imitations and political messages. The participants responded by emphasizing the need to increase the number of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements included in schools, to strengthen education dedicated to cultural heritage elements, and to involve craftsmen, specialists, as well as classroom teachers. Furthermore, the conference participants highlighted the importance of using new media technologies to facilitate broader public access to information about cultural heritage elements. The conference opened with the launch of the project Facilitating Access to the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Romania and the Republic of Moldova: The Interactive Map of Birth Customs (AccessChRoM)
The Gender Paradox in Romania: Pay Equality, Workforce Disparity
Full text linkRomania's situation regarding gender equality is quite paradoxical: it has one of the lowest unadjusted genders’ pay gap in Europe, yet it holds a low position overall in gender equality among EU countries. This contradiction highlights serious inequalities in areas like labour force participation, political representation, education, and leadership roles. Despite minimal differences in gender pay, societal norms, occupational segregation, and discriminatory practices intensify gender gaps in employment and leadership. This article explores various aspects of gender inequality in the workplace, including payment disparities, workforce participation, and educational attainment. In addition, it will examine how Romania’s legal framework and government policies, such as maternal leave regulations, address these inequalities and aim to support gender equality, particularly in helping women balance work and family responsibilities. Challenging traditional gender norms, expanding access to education, and strengthening social protections are essential in addressing Romania's gender disparities. Redistributing care responsibilities and promoting flexible work arrangements are vital steps in this process. By tackling these inequalities, policymakers can simultaneously advance gender equality and align with the broader objectives of sustainable development, ensuring both immediate and lasting societal benefits
Efecte ale crizei actuale asupra sărăciei din România – politici antisărăcie. Editura Pro Universitaria, Bucureşti, 2024. Mariana Stanciu (coordonator), Adina Mihăilescu, Cristina Humă, Livia Ștefănescu, Bianca Buligescu, Horia Mihai
Full text linkThe volume published in 2024 and written by a team of researchers from the Quality of Life Research Institute covers a very complex issue, that of poverty and social exclusion, on the one hand, and social protection policies, focused on poverty reduction, on the other hand. Even if the proposed analysis is a synthetic one, the information density is high, and covering such a complex issue required structuring on a fairly large number of chapters. In addition to a consistent introductory chapter of conceptual clarifications, the volume contains ten more chapters
The Professional Inheritance of Traditional Fiddlers in Buzău County: Typologies of Continuity and Rupture
Full text linkIn this study, we examine how the traditional fiddler (Lăutar) profession is passed down through generations among Roma musicians in Buzău County, Romania. We conducted interviews and reconstructed family trees across multiple generations in seven families, combining external analysis with insider perspective from a co-author who is himself a practicing traditional fiddler. Using Goffman's concept of moral career and theories of cultural capital, we analyzed how musical knowledge and professional roles are transmitted within families. Our findings show that musical inheritance follows some patterns: the profession passes almost exclusively from fathers to sons, while daughters are excluded despite talent due to concerns about reputation and safety. Mothers provide support through emotional encouragement and financial investment but are not recognized as educators in this area. Contemporary families adapt to economic pressures by combining traditional performance with other types of work, education, and migration rather than abandoning music entirely. We identified five career paths: traditional heirs who follow family apprenticeships, aspirational modernizers who pursue music strategically, constrained daughters whose careers are blocked by gender norms, economic migrants who perform abroad, and lost heirs who abandon the profession. By combining interview data with the genealogical method, we uncovered transmission patterns across generations, showing both successful continuity and points of breakdown. Professional survival depends on family networks, reputation, and economic support systems. These findings contribute to understanding how cultural professions persist in marginalized communities through family strategies that balance tradition with economic necessity while revealing the structural constraints that shape these processes