SPOLOČNOSŤ A HISTÓRIA – DVE STRÁNKY JEDNEJ MINCE

• Authors: Peter Švorc

Title variants

EN

Society and history – two sides of the same coin

• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

History and society are two inseparable elements. One cannot exist without the other. History forms a society, develops and shapes it. This complex and sometimes contradictory process leads to the society attempting to understand itself, its route and its direction. For this purpose the society creates an independent scientific discipline, namely history. The fourteenth congress of the Slovak History Society analysed the way how history is fulfilling its role in Slovakia. Slovak society accepts gladly the results of the correct work of the Slovak historians, most of them conscientiously add to the mosaic of the rich Slovak past, in spite of various pressures. However, there is another side to the same coin, which shows that there are many problems in the relationship of Slovak society to history: The politicians reach for the results of historical science only sporadically, and only when they need these results for their own purposes. This selective use of history, not only deforms historical knowledge, but also the historical consciousness of society. Slovak society suffers from an absence of historical education, which is inadequate and far from reaching the parameters of the neighbouring countries. Weak historical knowledge is reflected in people’s relationship to the national past. It is rather half-hearted, and not only in the schools, which are short of history textbooks and lessons for teaching history, but also in the institutions, namely archives and museums, which are obliged by law to care for the historical heritage of the country. However, even the historians themselves sometimes succumb to economic and pragmatic pressures. The result is inadequate research and so also bad interpretation of historical events.

Keywords

EN

HISTORY; SLOVAKIA; SOCIETY; KNOWLEDGE; CONSCIOUSNESS; SCIENCE

• Publisher: Institute of Historical Studies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Historický časopis (Historical Journal)
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 591 – 600

Contributors

author

Peter Švorc

• Inštitút histórie, Filozofická fakulta Prešovskej univerzity, ul. 17. novembra 1, 080 01 Prešov, Slovak Republic