Hungarian sociologist society suffered from a great loss by the death of István  Kemény, because one of the volunteers of this profession passed away. His life-work was outstanding due to its scientific quality and standard and  because it represented the Hungarian history of the second half of the 20th century well, including the daily life of Kádár era. 

He was a member of the Teleki Pál Research Institute from 1947 to 1948 at the start of his career.  Afterwards he worked as a high school teacher from 1948-1957. In 1957 he was imprisoned for two years. After his release, from 1959-1961 he was working as a translator, because he was neglected  as an intellectual in that time.
From 1970-1973 he was a member of the Institute for Sociology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1971 he carried out the first representative survey on Hungarian Roma. In 1973 he was banned from publications. Between 1973 and 1976 he worked as a freelance sociologist. 
In 1977 he left Hungary and emigrated to Paris where he was working for the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (1978-1981), and for the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (1983-1990), and he was also the editor of the Hungarian Booklets (Magyar Füzetek).  Besides, he worked as an external staff member of  Free Europe Radio (Szabad Európa Rádió)  (1980-1990).

He returned to Hungary in 1990 and then, after the change of regime, he got the professional appreciation he deserved.  He was the advisor and director of the Institute for Sociology,  Hungarian Academy of Sciences  (1990-1992). In 1994 he received a doctoral degree of sociology. He was awarded with several prizes, such as: Nagy Imre memorial plaque (1994), Deák Ferenc award (2003), Széchenyi Prize (2003).

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