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Judit H. Sas obtained her degree in Hungarian language and literature and history at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Szeged in 1950. Subsequently, she was an assistant lecturer at Eötvös University and then a primary school teacher. Later on she got a job at the Institute of Popular Culture where she started to deal with the sociology of education more seriously. This is when she prepared her university note A magyar népművelés története (The history of Hungarian popular education). After 1968 she worked at the Institute of Sociological Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, first as a researcher and later as a senior researcher. She continued with her research on the sociology of education. The first major project she realized together with other respected researchers in Heves county was an inquiry into the reception of literary works. The same location became the field of another study focusing on life styles that provided material for several publications.
Afterwards, Judit H. Sas became especially interested in the sociology of family that was the topic of her candidate’s dissertation (Social norms of femininity-masculinity residing in stereotypes and their role in changing family life styles), which she defended in 1978. The dissertation was published in a book with the title Nőies nők és férfias férfiak (Feminine women and masculine men) in 1984.
After 1990 Judit H. Sas continued her studies in the sociology of family. At the same time, she became interested in political sociology and was also involved in a major research project. The results of this research were published first in Szubjektív történelem (Subjective history) in 1995 and, with respect to the period following the regime change, in Új apparátus (New apparatus) (1998) and Közelmúlt: rendszerváltások, családtörténetek (Recent past: regime changes, family histories) (2003).
H. Sas was awarded the Hegedűs Prize by the Institute of Sociological Research in 2005.
(compiled by András Páldi university student)
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