Applied Sociology of Professor G.P. Davidyuk and Revival of Sociological Science in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic

Abstract

The article examines the history of academic school of applied sociology of Professor G.P. Davidyuk (1923-2020), assesses his contribution to the revival of sociological science and the institutionalization of sociological education in Belarus. G.P. Davidyuk formed the first scientific structures of a sociological profile in Belarus (sector of social research, Department of sociological research of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR; sector of applied sociology at the Department of Philosophy of Belarusian State University in Minsk, etc.), he wrote the first textbooks "Fundamentals of Applied Sociology" (1975) and "Applied Sociology" (1979). Under his editorship, the country's first "Dictionary of Applied Sociology" (1984) was prepared, the foundations were laid for professional sociologists training at the Belarusian State University (BSU), personnel of the highest scholarly qualification. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Problematic Research Laboratory of Sociological Research of BSU, headed by G.P. Davidyuk, turned into the country's leading scientific center. The work of the Applied sociology sector at the BSU gave an impetus to the development of industrial sociology.