Seite 112 [112]
IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
of women in the labour market was one of the consequences of the aggressive,
extensive industrial production which was to be implemented following the
Soviet model of the planned economy.*"* In other words, the democratisation
of the educational system could virtually be implemented only because it was
defined as one of the instruments of modern workforce training.
Managing the educational institutions’ system, tutoring — including the
tutoring of women — in Hungary was also subordinated to economic rational¬
ism. The idea of the newly created “ideal woman”, following a Soviet model, as
well as the interests of women during the Rakosi dictatorship, both served the
purposes of the official ideology and the party bureaucracy. The limits of
emancipation therefore only extended to where they could still serve the so¬
cialist ideology.** The most important ideological thesis stated that state so¬
cialism has to surpass capitalism with its own ability for development."
Training the youth to accept the ideology of this state socialist system was
primarily in the centre of reshaping education. This of course entailed the
fundamental need of this new political system to produce a technocratic elite
loyal to the communist party.
It is commonly known that the social culture of Hungary before World War
II. was mainly closed, with social mobility limited. The so-called “numerus
clausus”, i.e. Act XXV of 1920 controlling the enrolment into higher education
was also introduced in the same period, which limited the proportion of Jews
to be enrolled in universities, the polytechnic, economic and law schools. This
resulted in an increased chance for urban bourgeois, gentry and other so-called
“Christian genteel middle-class” groups to achieve higher education and start
a white-collar career.*”° We need to add that the concept of gentility was also
in transition at that point in time.
As Kovér and Gyani highlighted, gentility could not be achieved simply on
the grounds of birthright or profession at that time. A strict principle of se¬
lection was in effect, which was not completely expressed by the system of
titles and estates. More precisely, the concept of gentility was autonomically
dictated by the practice of social interactions by reserving the status of “gen¬
tleman” to those belonging to the society either formally or — and especially
— informally. These “gentlemen” could reach all statuses through these non-mar¬
ket routes. Jews had to secure such a position for themselves through market
achievements, if they received sufficient acknowledgment at all.*””
313 Schadt, M.: Ellentmondäsos szerepelväräsok, nök az ällamszocializmusban, Acta Sociologica,
Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005, 62.
314 Schadt: „A feltörekvö dolgozö nö”, 13.
315 Cf, Asztalos-Morell: A mernöknö, 146.
316 Faragó: Nők a tudományban, 27.
Kövér, G. — Gyáni, G.: Magyarország társadalomtörténete a reformkortól a második
világháborúig, Budapest, Osiris, 2006, 271.
317
+ 110°