Informality Rules

This is a verbatim re-publication of a study, first published in English (under the title ”Informality Rules”) as well as Magyar, twenty years ago. Using some tools of historical-comparative sociology, it argues that informality permeates virtually all aspects of life in Hungaran society. The paper marshals some plausible social-historical considerations that might help understand the rise of this feature to the near-ubiquity. The argument foregrounds economic institutions and processes while, clearly, a similar exploration could be conducted with respect to political and cultural life, elite formation and mass culture as well.