Suchergebnisse

The article provides an overview of the main theoretical approaches to research on educational choices and anticipated labour-market opportunities from a gender perspective. It then presents the results of three quantitative analyses of secondary data. The objective is to help facilitate a complex understanding of the mechanisms of the reproduction of gendered social
structures. The genderedness of the social institutions in the education system and the labour market in relation to the socialising trends in the family is described in three parts: 1) gender segregation in employment in the context of segregation in education – the author shows that the horizontal dimension of these social institutions plays a more signifi cant role than the vertical dimension; 2) the factors that condition girls' and boys' educational aspirations and choice of schools – the author demonstrates how secondary school choices are gendered (though the analysis did not reveal the differences between the factors that infl uence girls' and boys' aspirations); 3) the factors that condition parents' educational and class aspirations for their sons and daughters – the author uncovers several aspects of the socialising effect of the reproduction of the two traditional career trajectories based on gender. In conclusion, the article answers the question of how structurally gendered expectations cohere with individual career trajectories, and based on the three analyses formulates questions for further research and offers a revised theoretical conceptualisation of gender as an analytical category.

The article deals with district level electoral competition in Canada & Great Britain. Analyzing fragmentation, degree of competition & district heterogeneity of party support, using a calibrated set of research tools (Laakso-Taagepera's N, graphical methods, second-first loser ratio (SFLR) & Gini index as measure of heterogeneity), we argue that in respect to the Duvergerian agenda, Great Britain & Canada now represent proximate (and not -- as before -- distal) cases. This convergence has been accompanied by the departure of both electoral arenas from the former status quo in at least one of the dimensions under observation. We briefly discuss possible reasons for that departure, mostly exogenous of electoral rules, stressing their increasing importance for the Duvergerian agenda in general. Adapted from the source document.

"This article deals with the relationship between public opinion and rumour from ancient times, through the Middle Ages and right up to today. It will examine the terms which were used and which often depended not just on a particular author but usually an entire social class. The most often used terms to describe opinion, fama and existimatio, occurred in the speeches of politicians which were presented as the valuable opinions of the elite whereas the concepts opinio, rumor or sermo were considered as low value and unreliable opinions of plebeians to whom the ruling classes attributed the spreading and creation of rumours. The concept of fama, more often fama publica, indicated in the Middle Ages a local network of knowledge, a mechanism for the collective evaluation of an individual. In this sense it played an important role in the courts of law. The issue of rumours is common to all subsequent historical periods because public opinion usually both generated, and was supported, by rumour. The article also puts forward a hypothesis why the all-powerful fama dissapeared from the courtrooms, why it lost its significance and became purely a rumour." (author's abstract)

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 was accompanied by mass enthusiasm. This
wave of enthusiasm (Kriegsbegeisterung) was particularly high in Austro-Hungary. In the regions
where the German population was significantly large crowds thronged the streets singing patriotic
songs such as "Wacht am Rhein", "Heil Dir im Siegeskranz", "The Radecky Marsch", "Prince
Eugene Marsch". They also arranged tributes in front of monuments, state buildings and military
headquarters. Despite the fact that the operation to mobilise the Czech military went smoothly
the German public noticed the lack of enthusiasm amidst the Czech soldiers and consequently the
Czechs were seen as indifferent and even hostile. There was an attempt to promote demonstrations
in Prague as an expression of Czech-German reconciliation. However as these were organised by
the German minority in Prague the Czechs continued in their lack of fervour and viewed the war
as a German one rather than Czech.

The article focuses on the role of informality in the life of post-communist societies in Central Europe. Its goal is to question the current negative connotation of informal networks in the context of post-communist society. For this purpose it analyses the criteria used in the relevant literature to distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' informal networks. Two main factors (the situational factor and the factor of relationship quality) are analysed from the perspective of their impact on the orientation of informal networks and their ability to predict which networks will have a positive or a negative influence on societal development. The author argues that neither of these two factors alone can fully explain the positive or negative orientation of a particular informal network in a given society. Instead he proposes a solution that combines several dimensions of both factors. In conclusion he identifies five types of informal networks in post-communist society: predatory, redistributory, helping, operating, and participative networks.

Approximately 100 thousand men of Czech origin died during the wartime operations
in the years 1914 to 1918. The majority were aged between 23 and 35. The reproductive losses have
been estimated at another 610 thousand (550 thousand children that were never born due to the
absence of a man in the household and another 60 thousand civilian dead). In 1914 the population
in the Czech territories numbered 10 million 283 thousand, in 1919 this number decreased
to 9 million 921 thousand. The ratio of men to women decreased (in 1920 there were 92.5 men to
every 100 women). This imbalance in age frequency, a result of the low birth rate, had a long term
effect firstly on the number of marriages, then on the birth rate and eventually on the mortality
rate. These long term effects were evidently still present at the close of the 20th Century.

This article is an attempt to present further results in the author's continuing qualitative
field work among the historical war re-enactment societies of the fortress towns of Josefstadt and
Theresienstadt (from 2010). Michael Foucaults Heterotopic theory of places is used to shed light
on a wide range of ritualised social behaviour, centred around key symbols from the monarchical
military culture of the Enlightenment. New categories for the analysis of local context have been
created which are clearly compatible with Braudel's theory of longue-duree, that is isophenomenological
historic-social objects, maintaining and transferring the original meaning of heterotopic
social-disciplination.

In many advanced countries housing consumption plays a significant role in the social stratification of households. First, the article sets out to determine whether during the transformation period significant differentiation of housing consumption occurred and social stratification became linked to stratification by housing consumption. In other words, whether alongside the 'standard' criteria (age, education, income, and other socio-economic variables) influencing the stratification of Czech households it is also necessary to take into account the type and quality of housing. Second, in relation to these findings on stratification, Czech households are segmented into 12 segments. The article then makes some general prognoses for each household segment regarding the number of households in selected forms of housing and types of housing development for 2020. These prognoses showed that if 'optimistic' outlooks for economic development are met and Czech citizens' housing preferences remain constant, there could be a substantial increase compared to today in the share of Czech households living in family homes and even to a certain excess of supply of rental flats over demand.

A review essay on books by (1) George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, Metafory, kterymizijeme (Brno: Host, 2002); (2) Francis A. Beer & Christ'l De Landtsheer [Eds], Metaphorical World Politics (East Lansing: Michigan State U Press, 2004); (3) Andreas Musolff, Mirror Images of Europe. Metaphors in the Public Debate about Europe in Britain and Germany (Munchen: Iudicium, 2000); (4) Rainer Hulsse, Metaphern der EU-Erweiterung als Konstruktion europaischer Identitat (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003); & Hans Verboven, Die Metapher als Ideologie: Eine kognitiv-semantische Analyse der Kriegsmetaphorik im Fruhwerk Ernst Jungers (Heidelberg: Universitatsverlag WINTER, 2003).