Muzee cu Caracter Etnografic-Sociologic din Romania/Museums of Ethnographic-Sociological Nature in Romania [antikvár]

PRINCIPLES AND PURPOSES IN ORGANIZING MUSEUMS OF A SOCIOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC NATURE IN ROMANIA Nicolae Ungureanu It is more than a quarter of a centurv since Romania has unswervingly entered the roád of structural changes, which, renewing the life and activity of the entire society, speed up our advance towards the highest levels of modern civilization. With all his social forces self-consciously enlisted, the Románián people has made great progress in the realm of the creation of material and spiritual assets and in the life of the society, firmly implemented the pro visions of the programs el'aborated by the Románián Communist Party - far reaching programs characterized by the scientific consideration of reality and of the prospects of socialism building. "The balance-sheet of the achievements of the Románián people, led by the Party"1 does add to the creation of material and spiritual assets and to the higher living standards of the society's members, generál social cohesiveness, which originates in the omens of aspirations and actions - a fact which essentially ensures the successful continuity of the work aimed at attaining the targets "of the future economic, social and cultural development of Romania"2. Every branch of social activity draws up a program of its own, elaborates its theories and methods and procures the concrete means as required by the respective plan in full agreement with the directives and aims of the Party's and States policy. The same understanding of their own duties is organically shared by science and culture as well, inclusive of the sector of museums of a sociological and ethnographic nature,3 - a field of activity on the principles and organisation targets of which we'll dwell in this paper. Before dealing with these latter problems, I would like to present - from the viewpoint that interests us - somé considerations on the two social sciences - sociology and ethnography (and i *** The 10th Congress of the Románián Communist Party, Bucharest, 1969, p. 20. | Ibidem, p. 24. 3 Up to now museums of this type have been named Museums of Ethnography (and Folk-Arts). As we'll further sec, the addition "sociological" to the appellation of museums of this type (and alsó to those known as museums of technics) reflects more of a trend, in keeping with the present requirements than a corrcspondence with the epntenö öf the said museums. However, there are somé tradmons, and even somé ^approaches, of a sociological stand in the research work Ind oreanisation connected with ethnograph.cal museums - the Vnfage Museum in Bucharest - which havmg not been ncou aged and promoted | failed to fully develop. 1m