Although politicians and directors of multinational corporations seem to be more and moresocially conscientious and tolerant, urgent global crises like social inequality, global warming
and political extremism are beginning to seem ever more threatening. For example in Hungary,
multinational corporations like GE like to boast their progressive stance on discrimination byattending events like the Budapest Pride, it neglects the demands by its Hungarian workers foran adequate living. This contradiction led me to the realization that these issues are impossible
to analyse atomistically, but rather a system-specific critique is what is needed. For me, thepoint of social studies is to identify oppressive and dangerous social constructs, which infiltrate
our judgements, and to understand how these social constructs can exactly do this.
At the age of 16, I enrolled into Milestone Institute, an advanced studies programme, which
provided me helpful resources to continue my studies at a higher level. I attended several
courses, one of which centred around classic political theories, like social contract theories byRousseau, Locke and Hobbes, which made me understand the necessity of humans forming
cooperative societies and why a state is a good tool to upkeep social order if its powers stemfrom the citizens. One of my biggest interests within the realm of political theory is the muchdiscussed issue of identity politics as a potential tool for combatting oppressive structures.
Reading essays of Anthony K. Appiah and Iris Marion Young, I have realised how identity
politics is more than just a means of cultural emancipation, as it gives room to explore how
positional exploitation and cultural discrimination intertwine. Another potential instrument toforge a critical political base is populism. I find the ideas of Chantal Mouffe in her book “Onthe Political” quite intriguing, as she defends the populist use of a “we vs. they” narrative witha poststructuralist approach, claiming that every group identity must consist of an us-them
distinction, as it is impossible to define an “us”, without clarifying who is “not us”, or “them”.
I have also dealt with the issue of social ontology, reading Ian Hacking’s “The Social
Construction of What?”, where he explains important distinctions between the structuring ofsocial and natural kinds. Hacking made me understand the dynamic nature of social sciences,
as unlike elements of the periodic table, humans are subject to looping effects, making them
react to the categories they are placed into, by being labelled by others which causes thecategories themselves to change too. This has helped my understanding of how discriminativesocial structures can infiltrate individuals, thus perpetuating the harmful practices. Throughthese readings, I could also develop my analytical skills, which I found incredibly useful at the2020 Nation Philosophy Competition, where I achieved 2nd place.

In order to understand the practical impacts of oppressive systemic practices, I began doing
Model United Nations at the age of 14, dealing with contemporary issues like the persecutionof Kurds in the Middle East, but also historic events, like the Rwandan genocide. This also
improved my critical and analytical skills, which led me to achieve 8 ‘Best Delegate’ awards at
multiple conferences throughout Europe. I find MUN to be an excellent way for interested
students to dive deeper into social studies; this is why I am also the director of the MUN-Clubin our school, which is one of the most renowned MUN groups in Central-Eastern Europe. My
aim with this club is to create a hub for Hungarian high schoolers, who are interested in social
sciences to share and discuss their ideas and develop critical stances with fellow students. Atuniversity, I hope to find something similar to this, encountering new perspectives andprogressive ideas in a challenging environment.