He graduated as a valedictorian from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Sociology in 1974, and received his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1980, presenting the thesis "Teoria Critică a Școlii de la Frankfurt și radicalismul de stînga contemporan" ("The Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and Contemporary Left-Wing Radicalism"). During the period, he was received into the ranks of the Union of Communist Youth (UTC), authored several articles which displayed support for the regime, and, as vice-president of the UTC's "Communist Student Association", allegedly took part in authoring and compiling propaganda aimed at students. He was also contributing to the UTC magazines "Amfiteatru" and "Viața Studențească", where his essentially neo-Marxist essays were often mixed for publication with endorsements of the official ideology.