Marienthal

Hynek Jeřábek
1997 Czech Sociological Review  
This paper describes the findings, theories and field methods of the research carried out by Paul Lazarsfeld, Marie Jahoda and Hans Zeisel in winter 1931/1932 in Austria. The results of this research work were published in 1933 in German under the title The Unemployed from Marienthal (Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal). Since the Second World War the book has been published in many editions and printings in English, German, French, and also in Korean. The book is generally known under the short
more » ... tle Marienthal. This small industrial town near Vienna became the subject of a major sociographical research. The research focused not on the unemployed individual but on the whole community afflicted by unemployment. The research team made a considerable effort to understand and describe the situation of families of unemployed textile workers in Marienthal. The combination of quantitative research procedures with methods of qualitative research was a significant feature of the research. The authors were interested in the family budgets and diet of the unemployed families. They investigated the effects of unemployment studying statistical data of consumption and the purchasing of goods in the town. They studied the family life, analysed the changes in meaning of the time of unemployed citizens, examined how the role of interest groups, congregations, church and political parties was adapted to the situation of mass unemployment. The authors contributed to the investigation of the aspirations and life-plans of members of families affected by longitudinal unemployment. The book came to some theoretical conclusions concerning the influence of long lasting unemployment on the social organism, i.e., the community of Marienthal. Apathy, no future plans, but at the same time trying to create chances for one's children, were the most apparent elements of the life situation of unemployed citizens of Marienthal. This paper also discusses in brief the subsequent lives and scientific work of all three authors.
doi:10.13060/00380288.1997.33.3.13 fatcat:vpx4sghl5faazatmjnvvg77qbu