Communist Politics, Social Sciences and Humanities

The social sciences and humanities have still to acquire their proper social form in post-Communist societies. When a pure theoretical, 'impractical', 'sterile' school practice is publicly misrepresented as an exemplary social practice of open debate and questioning, then the path is established for a pseudo-scientific ideology. This kind of ideology becomes dominant from the moment that an, internal socialisation' within communities of scholars is mistaken for an, external socialisation' in political forums. It is true that even today the first and basic socialization of university teachers in the social sciences and humanities takes place in political institutions of the state. Their belief in the practical character of their knowledge, confirmed by their fascinating experience of communicative practices in these institutions, gives them an illusion of participating in a genuine community. The curious fact that scholars themselves have brought the dominant political ideology into the field of their knowledge and expertise is to be explained by this lack of independent communicative practice. The true democratisation of post-Communist regimes requires the profound transformation of both the school-like practice of universities and the pseudo-scientific practice of political forums. Only a re-socialisation of all of the institutions inhabited by the social sciences and humanities will bring to an end 'scientific ideologies'.