Current research

Béla Tomka’s main research area is the social and economic history of 20th century Europe with particular emphasis on comparative approaches. He has been focusing on the history of population, family, social policy and consumption. In his latest book he goes beyond the traditional growth paradigm and examines the historical patterns of consumption and leisure, as well as quality of life in East Central Europe since 1945. He argues that these aspects can best be analyzed in relation to one other. By adopting this “triple approach,” his study relies not only on economic history and economics, but also on the methods and results of sociology and demography. His recent and forthcoming studies in these fields include 

  • Austerities and Aspirations: A Comparative History of Growth, Consumption and Quality of Life in East Central Europe since 1945, Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2020, 445 pp.
  • “Consumption and Leisure in 20th Century Central and Eastern Europe”, in Wlodzimierz Borodziej, Stanislav Holubec and Joachim von Puttkamer, eds., The Routledge History Handbook of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, vol. 1, London and New York: Routledge, 2020, 385–443.
  • (Co-authored by Stanislav Holubec) “Population and Family in 20th Century Central and Eastern Europe”, in Wlodzimierz Borodziej, Stanislav Holubec and Joachim von Puttkamer, eds., The Routledge History Handbook of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, vol. 1, London and New York: Routledge, 2020, 235–312.
  • “Lebensstandard und Konsum im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert” (forthcoming in Ulf Brunnbauer, Hrsg., Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas, Band 6: Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Südosteuropa von 1800 bis zur Gegenwart, 2021, ca. 25 pp.)
  • “Fogyasztás a második világháború utáni Kelet-Közép-Európában: politikai meghatározók és transznacionális hatások” [Consumption in Post-war East Central Europe: Political Determinants and Transnational Connections], Aetas, vol. 34 (2019), no. 4, 62–74. 
  • Intézményi és kulturális transzferek a 20. századi Magyarországon [Institutional and Cultural Transfers in 20th Century Hungary]. Thematic issue of the journal Aetas, vol. 34 (2019), no. 4, 186 pp.


Recently his research interests also shifted to the history of violence, propaganda and the process of European integration, and globalization. His studies in these fields include

  • (Co-edited by László Szarka) Nationalisms in Action: East Central Europe in the Great War (forthcoming, New York: Berghahn Books, 2021, ca. 380 pp.)
  • “Erőszak a történelemben: jelentések és hosszú távú trendek” [Violence in History: Meanings and Long-Term Trends], Aetas, vol. 33 (2018), no. 3, 170-185.
  • “Mítoszok az Európai Unió demokratikus hiányosságairól” [Myths about the Democratic Deficit of the European Union], Kommentár, vol. 11 (2016), no. 6, 20-28.

Currently he is co-editing a volume of essays entitled History and Violence, which will be published by the Istvan Hajnal Circle in 2022.