A Lost Decade? Laszlo Radvanyi and the Origins of Public Opinion Research in Mexico, 1941-1952

Abstract

This article documents public opinion research activities in Mexico in the 1940s and the role played by Hungarian professor Laszlo Radvanyi, who immigrated to that country at the height of World War II. Our research relies on several of Radvanyi's publications archived in different countries, as well as on interviews with family, acquaintances, and experts on the work of his wife, the German poet Anna Seghers. During his years in Mexico, Radvanyi founded the Scientific Institute of Mexican Public Opinion, in 1941, and the International Journal of Opinion and Attitude Research, in 1947 - a forefather of today's IJPOR. He was also a founding member of WAPOR. His early “sample surveys” raised important methodological issues and recorded opinion results that reflect the vibrant times of war and policy making in a modernizing country. However, Radvanyi's contribution to the profession has been virtually forgotten. Until now, accounts about how public opinion research began in Mexico either ignored Radvanyi's works or reduced his ten years of survey research to a single footnote. This article is an attempt to fill this enormous omission and highlight some of Radvanyi's contributions to these early stages of survey research.