The present work reviews some of the contributions of Ion Clopoţel (1892-1986), an illustrious personality of the inter-bellum period, to the understanding of social and economic life in Romania. The work contains a biographical sketch of Ion Clopoțel, then representative elements of his methodological perspective are highlighted: sociography with a significant economic component. We will show how the sociographic perspective of Ion Clopotel is actually a monographic one, but applied at the regional level. Historical, economical and related to household life aspects as well as psychosociological and linguistic aspects are targeted. Moreover, the data collected and analyzed with scientific methods were directly intended to underpin policies for the modernization and development of Romania. The scientific foundation was necessary, as Ion Clopotel suggested, because of the wrong policies of the governors of the time. They neglected the rural world, its modernization and industrialization, even though they were aware of the importance of this world for the future of the country. The conclusions bring to reader's attention, among other things, some of Ion Clopoţel's socioeconomic considerations and themes of surprising actuality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]