The research examines the career paths of women working in higher education, as well as the organizational-institutional processes that contribute to the lack of work-private life balance and, as a consequence, to the fact that women are less likely to advance in both academic and university decision-making areas.

Based on the foundations of discursive social science, the research analyzes and presents today's social discourses about women and men - social genders. It processes and interprets the rampant discourses of consciously controlled misconceptions and myths, the ultimate goal of which is to flood the surfaces of the public, displacing all other voices, and to make public opinion uncertain about the basic values of equality, solidarity and tolerance. The volume places discourses on gender in the context of public and political speeches and shows how power distorts and manipulates the appearance of gender in public discourse - according to its own interests. The research examines several discourses that are current and often heard today, that attract the attention of politicians and are built around questions that shape public interest/public opinion, and place them in a specific interpretative framework created with the tools of discourse analysis.

This paper conceptualizes challenges and dangers that have impacted Hungary’s civil society (third sector, nonprofit sector, voluntary sector) over the past decade. The cases presented illustrate the fragility of both the civil sector and its underlying democracy in Hungary. The boundaries between state and nonprofits reveal pervasive paternalistic/cliental processes stemming from the period between the two world wars and pre-1989 experience of public–private relations and issue management. On the one hand, old regime strategies have survived and been maintained by the overt and unreflected dependency of the civil sector on the state. Secondly, the boundaries between church organizations and civil nonprofits present a politically mis(non)managed process that has resulted in a fading role of non-church NGOs in the field of social service. This process can be traced back to an unequal and biased treatment of service provider organizations in an allegedly sector-neutral environment. Both cases illuminate operations that have resulted in a significant dismantling of the civil sector and a consequent deterioration of democracy in Hungary.

In our understanding social and cultural trauma occurs when members of a collectivity feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leaves indelible marks upon their group consciousness, marking their memories forever and changing their future identity in fundamental and irrevocable ways (Alexander 2012). Sztompka (2000) speaks about social trauma in the context of social change and draws on Merton’s notion of anomie and Beck and Giddens’ concept of risk. In his view the word 'trauma' is no longer confined to hospitals and psychiatric wards, but a new discourse is born, the discourse of trauma, and it is steadily entering the domain of social sciences and the humanities (Caruth, 1995, 1996; Neal, 1998). One possible use of the concept of trauma is to deal with the problem of negative, dysfunctional, adverse effects that major social change may leave in its wake, the 'trauma of change' inflicted on the 'body' of a changing society. The trauma on which we focus is a peculiar type of social change which has destructive effects on the body social. These could be: revolution (whether victorious or failed), coup d'etat, racial riots; collapse of the market; radical economic reform (e.g. nationalization or privatization); forced migration or deportation, ethnic cleansing; genocide, extermination, mass murder; acts of terrorism or violence; assassination of the political leader; revisionist interpretation of national heroic tradition; collapse of an empire, lost war (Sztompka 2000, 454).

Historical social trauma, as used by social workers, historians, and psychologists, refers to the cumulative emotional harm of a community or generations caused by a traumatic experience or event.  The Historical Trauma Response (HTR) conception refers to the reactions that individuals and communities experience because of long-term oppressive events (Brave Heart, Chase, Elkins, Altschul 2011). Some HTRs include survivor’s guilt, depression, intrusive thinking about past events/loved ones, emotional numbing, dissociation, and unpleasant thoughts/nightmares (Evans-Campbell 2008).

National traumas have been created by “individual and collective reactions to a volcano-like event that shook the foundations of the social world” (Neal 1998, ix). An event traumatizes a collectivity because it is “an extraordinary event,” an event that has such “an explosive quality” that it creates “disruption” and “radical change . . . within a short period of time” (Neal 1998, 3, 9–10).

Social traumas can be generated by social (individual or structural) discrimination and marginalization of certain social groups. One area to be discussed is the context and consequences of discrimination and social exclusion that trigger social trauma (Matheson et al. 2019, Kirkinis et al. 2018).

Significant recent scholarship concludes that the manifestations of trauma, although produced by different events and actions, are exhibited in similar ways within each afflicted community.

The aim of our research group is to bring new results related to domestic and international trauma research to the fore at the ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, and for our faculty and students to be able to take a role in the domestic scientific research of the topic and in the preparation of publications related to the topic.  An important goal of the Research Group is to embrace research were carried out at the Faculty and make the results visible, as well as thematization of new research areas and directions, creation of resources and initiation of new research.

COVID-19 created an extraordinary social situation in which governments struggle to mitigate the harmful consequences of the pandemic. Challenging times show a society’s resilience and capacity for solidarity and cohesion, the government’s ability to deal with emergencies effectively, the stability and inclusiveness of political systems, and their aptitude to respect democratic values. It is particularly important to examine this period from the point of view of civil society and civil society organizations (CSOs), since civil society plays a pivotal role in the alleviation and dissipation of societal troubles associated with the epidemic, indeed a vital role in curbing the virus. The civil sector’s strength and resilience too is tested. As the studies in this Special Issue show, exploiting the potential of civil society was an option that only some countries have been able to seize - as a result of which they have effectively reduced the consequences of the calamity while increasing a sense of solidarity and belonging in their societies.Others, however, failed to recognize the importance of civil society and interpreted the situation as a “single-actor play on stage”. Neither solidarity nor cohesion play out as values in these latter cases; instead the single actor – government – grabs the opportunity to play the role of the heroic savior and the exclusive problem solver, grabbing for itself both symbolic gains and increasing concentration of power.

The research explores the constituent components of the symbolic systems, including perception, linguistic constructs, and the representation of gender, all of which contribute to the establishment and normalization of symbolic authority and the structural framework predicated upon gender hierarchies. Moreover, the text elucidates the pivotal role of scientific discourse in the generation and legitimization of gender-based hierarchical arrangements across epochs. Drawing upon the philosophical and sociological movements prevalent in the latter half of the 20th century, notably post-structuralism, phenomenology, and postmodernism, the text delineates the profound influence of these, particularly within Western discourse, in shaping conceptions of gender and gender relations. Furthermore, the study directs attention toward endeavors to subvert hierarchical paradigms through deconstruction methodologies. Finally, the study explores those endeavors that, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, have applied the metaphor of "femininity as a mask" to protect women's autonomy and independence. The paper seeks to discern the mechanisms by which various components of symbolic systems predispose us to the acquiescence of traditional gender roles and expectations and the ways in which symbolic systems are utilized by authoritarian illiberalism to restore patriarchal rule.