photographed by Michaela Nespěchalová

Interview with Csaba Szaló - associate professor, Department of Sociology

You can meet Csaba Szaló in the bachelor´s program Global Challenges: Society, Politics, Environment teaching the course GLCb2002 Communism: Politics, Culture and Society or in the master´s program Cultural Sociology teaching the course CSOn4003 Advanced Methods of Interpretation in Cultural Sociology.

Interviewed by Nicolas Navas

1. How did you start your academic career?

It’s quite simple, my love for historical novels began because my father, who was a teacher, had many books about different kinds of wars, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburgs, and events related to Central Europe – and I would steal them from him. Even today, I still love reading historical novels. While I had a deep interest in history, I actually studied at a vocational school specializing in engineering and technical subjects. Despite my love for history, studying it during the communist era didn't hold much appeal, at least not for me and my family – there seemed to be a specific interpretation of history prevalent at that time. So, I turned my focus toward something more contemporary and more attractive. I was also learning about economics in school, but I quickly realized I didn’t want to study economics. Around that time, my mother pursued university studies through a long-distance program. I then dove into reading the many philosophy books she had and thought that perhaps there is something that connects history and philosophy – and this is sociology.

2. What is your main interest in the field of sociology? What are you researching?

There are two things: what I do research on and what is interesting for me. I’ve always been a theoretical sociologist, so I’ve done a lot of theoretical work and a lot of readings. While all my research is connected, in recent times, I have been doing more writing and been more involved in memory-related research and historical memory. Through all of this, I somehow got into research on automobile accidents. This research is a collaborative effort between the Vienna Institute and us, where they provide the technology and science study elements, and we provide the qualitative research and memory-related research elements. Indeed, cultural sociology is connected to this through cultural trauma, so I also do research on trauma-related fields, such as migration and transgenerational trauma in the field of memory trauma.

This nexus of cultural sociology, trauma, and technology studies became evident and led me to research accidents, as many people have health-related long-term issues caused by accidents. I draw parallels between the recognition of traumatic memory issues in those who have fought in wars and the seemingly overlooked traumatic events on the road. Despite the staggering statistics, the long-term traumatic memory implications of accidents on the road are understudied.

In my opinion, what is interesting is this interaction between these science and technology studies and cultural sociology. As cultural sociologists, we grapple with meanings, symbolic interpretations, and narratives which can pair well with individuals in the science and technology fields who study the physical implications of matters. Souls, which are very hard to imagine for individuals in the science and technology fields, as well as those around you, your family, and your friends, can be harmed by trauma, so we can cooperate to research the wider implications of trauma. I also think this is something that is interesting to a general audience, as it forms a tangible connection with individuals who have survived such experiences. The public interest lies not only in the theoretical exploration but also in the practical implications for those who have undergone trauma. The interconnectedness with real-life experiences brings a human touch to what might initially seem like a highly abstract concept.

3. What is the relevance of cultural sociology?

When we started to do cultural sociology at FSS, the main issues we focused on were trauma questions, identity, and conflict. Then, COVID overwrote everything for a while, but the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza showed us how cultural sociology was very much related to conflict. As a simple statement, I would say that if you want to understand social conflicts, political conflicts, violence, colonization, and conquests, then you must understand somehow how people give meaning to others, to the tensions they live in, and to the injustices they have faced or are facing. This was also all present during the conflicts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with vaccinations and infections, for example. These all present clashes over meanings.

Climate change is also an interesting conflict. Beyond climate change as a catastrophe, there is a whole clash around it and how people think about it and the future, which is usually related to trauma-related issues. This is one of the reasons I have dealt with urban memory: how do we deal with what has happened in the past, and what right does it give us to do something about that today? The same applies to wars and the fights around who has the rights to a territory.

Climate change remains an interesting topic because it is about the future. It is very hard to argue about the past of climate change. It’s much more about the kind of regulation and control that will impact If we want to understand all these kinds of clashes that will form how we will live our lives, how different types of hierarchies will form, for example, around water, it is important to see how people are able to justify what they want, how people are able to articulate what they want by means of group identity, and how they are able to claim whether they have certain rights or not.

The department has also worked closely with individuals from the field of anthropology. While it is not the same as cultural sociology, we found very close collaboration pathways. One of the anthropologists was much more market-facing and had a deep understanding of the symbolism of markets and the economy. While we talk about football, he sees all the money flowing around it, and he is able to connect this money to meanings and symbols beyond just being money. This is why we teach about, for example, branding in the cultural sociology courses. Particularly on social media, everyone is building a brand, yet you cannot build a brand without meanings, icons, and visuality. To me, this is one of the most important areas of economic performance and relations.

Indeed, the relevance of cultural sociology is needed nowadays more than ever. Cultural sociology can help ease the interactions between cultures, between people, and between communities.

4. What advice do you have for prospective students?

Analyze what you are seeing on social media, and read more novels, science fiction, and historical novels. Cultivate your fantasy because if you want to do sociology, you must use your imagination to connect all different kinds of issues. Bibliographies, public media, and social media are not always helpful in connecting elements together, and are unrelated to big historical events that are taking place.