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The aim of this article is to explore the various ways in which people represent social groups. The author shows that a prominent role in such processes is played by psychological essentialism. People represent some of their social identities as inherent qualities that are based on the sharing of a presumed 'essence': something unobservable, diffi cult to remove, irreversible, and causally responsible for overt behaviours. Empirical evidence suggests that no particular causal process of essence acquisition is constitutive for essentialism in folk models of society. Some authors believe that folk essentialism is necessarily connected with the presumed innateness of an essence (its biological transmission across generations). Innate potential and biological inheritance, however powerful they may be for the human cognitive mind in the domain of folk models for biology, are far from necessary in essentialist folksociological classifications. Essentialism in folk sociology is not defined by any particular causal process of essence acquisition. Even when it is possible to detect that a given group of people claim the innate essence of a particular folk sociology, it is always necessary to look for other features of essentialism (inherence, sharp boundaries, the immutability of identity, etc.). The article reviews some influential cognitive proposals concerning folk models of society (Astuti, Gil-White, Hirschfeld) and ethnicity, and provides arguments and empirical evidence collected in Western Ukraine in support of the claim that presumed innateness is not the constitutive part of folk models of society, let alone of psychological essentialism.

The objective of this article is to show how issues concerning women in science and the problem of gendered science, often treated separately, are interconnected. To examine how research on women in science and research on gender and science relate to each other, some feminist epistemological perspectives, mainly feminist contextual empiricism, are used in order to show how the feminist philosophical conceptual framework may be useful for understanding the problems currently faced by women in science. After reflecting and elaborating on the very thesis of gendered science, the author analyses in more detail the concept of epistemic communities and the concept of trust as an epistemic factor. Through these concepts the author argues that philosophical/epistemological considerations are fruitful for studying the experience of individual women in science. Both of these interrelated concepts are considered highly relevant in the search for an epistemological framework facilitating the thematic study of women in science on a theoretical level and research on the current situation of women in the academic world in Slovakia.

"The aim of this paper is to introduce one of the classical sociological research conducted by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz in the city of Decatur (Illinois) in the Midwest of United States in 1955. The subject of the research was nonformal everyday interpersonal influence in areas of marketing, fashion, public affairs and movie going and the object was the population of women older 16 years (n = 718). By means of indicators of life cycle, social status and gregariousness the research report describes the profiles of opinion leaders in given areas and provides an answer to question if the two step flow of communication hypotheses is applicable in mentioned spheres of social life." (author's abstract)

The survey consists of two parts: 1. Post-election survey within the international comparative study which has been working for several decades under the title Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems (CSES, www.cses.org). In 2016, it was the implementation of Module 4 focused - in addition to standard electoral questions - on issues of redistribution. 2) survey within the frame of the International Social Research Program (ISSP, www.issp.org http://www.issp.org), namely module Role of the Government, implemented in Slovakia for the second time, the first one was in 2008. Both parts have joint socio-demographic identification variables. Post-election survey is focused on broad variety of factors related to electoral decision - the perception of political parties and their leaders, the satisfaction with democracy, evaluation of economic development, and aspects of election campaign. The Role of Government survey is focused on attitudes to government's competences, in general and specifically in relation to other actors - NGOs, private sector, church organizations and alike. Several questions deal with the public views on corruption, responsiveness, tax policies, interest in politics and other.
The survey also includes several questions that in the form of "split ballot" experimentally verify the validity of questions frequently used in the surveys, as well as scales and responses´ alternatives. These so-called "methodological experiments" are included in all data collections conducted within the APVV-14-0527 project, their results will be elaborated in a separate study.

The survey Values and Society During the Covid-19 Pandemic (HODYSE 2020) was designed and conducted by researchers at the Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to obtain up-to-date data on public opinion in six thematic areas: social trust, politics and democracy, conspiracy theories, vaccination, environment and leisure.
The year 2020 was a year of significant socio-political changes. Since the beginning of the year, the most important topic in the public debate and in the media has been the global pandemic of COVID-19 disease. The pandemic became a central issue of both the ending and the new government after the parliamentary elections in February 2020.
Findings from opinion polls have allowed us to capture how a pandemic has changed the traditional view of values, and how traditionally examined values have taken on new meanings. The data also document the severity of the pandemic situation during which the research was conducted (November 2020). In this context, the topics that resonated most in the public debate on COVID-19 were addressed - questions about vaccination, health concerns and the economic situation of respondents, or compliance with the measures.

The spatial polarisation of society is open to various research perspectives. It takes several forms and involves various epiphenomena. Consequently, it is the subject of research interest to scholars in various fi elds, especially sociologists, economists, regionalists, and regional geographers. The article focuses on selected aspects of peripherality and peripheral regions. The first part is devoted to the theoretical aspects of the polarisation of society, developmental interactions between the centre and the periphery, the relationship between peripherality and levels of hierarchy, peripherality and time, and the primary criteria of peripherality in inland and borderland regions. The second part applies theoretical-methodological findings to regions of Slovakia using selected quantitative methods. The author attempts to describe peripherality in multidimensional terms, and to identify the interconnections between various types of peripherality. Based on detailed statistical data on municipalities, he uses a broad range of indicators divided into four groups: human resources, economic potential, personal amenities, and access to centres. In conclusion the author identifies and categorises the peripheral regions of Slovakia and notes the existence of peripherality at regional and local levels.

Currently, research, development and innovation is one of five areas that form the basis of the strategy Europe 2020. One of the basic indicators of evaluation of the R&D level in country is an indicator reflecting the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D in the country's GDP. This indicator is used to monitor the achievement of the objective of the strategy, which is the EU to increase spending on R&D in 2020 to 3% of GDP. Therefore, the article deals with the issue of R&D in selected countries formulated in the strategy Europe 2020 in terms of the amount of expenditure incurred the above activities, the structure of expenditure to the GDP of countries and other partial indicators, which indicate differences in the R&D areas between analyzed and compared countries. Part of the contribution will predict the expected development of the indicator expressing the share of expenditure on R&D in GDP of countries in order to determine whether the targets set for each country are achievable by 2020.

Numerous studies have confi rmed that caring for small children is still the domain of women in Slovakia. Maternity as such is considered the natural and expected role of women and is part of the construction of femininity in Slovak society. At the same time, it is expected and routine that Slovak women participate in the labour market, and the prevailing form of employment is full-time work. This complicates efforts to harmonise work with the need to care for a small child. It is not just the country's legislative and institutional framework that shape notions about caring for small children; they are also influenced by the views and attitudes of society towards this issue. The image of a good mother is constructed, and women then try to approximate it when performing their maternal role. The prevailing ideal is of a mother who devotes herself full-time to caring for a child for the first three years of the child's life. The author of this article focuses on the context surrounding the construction of the image of a good mother as one who cares for her child until the age of three, and examines how the image of the good mother is reflected in the opinions of women on returning to work and on work/life balance. The data in this analysis are drawn from public opinion polls about early childcare and the reality of caring for small children in Slovakia and from in-depth interviews with mothers of small children. The mothers are aware of the views of society, refl ect on them, and many try to fulfil them so that they are perceived as 'good' and not 'inadequate' mothers.

Książka stanowi tom studiów autorstwa polskich i zagranicznych językoznawców poświęcony zmianom we współczesnych językach słowiańskich, szczególnie widocznym w słownictwie i słowotwórstwie. Uwzględnienie aspektu stylowo-funkcjonalnego w rozwoju leksyki pozwala lepiej zrozumieć dynamikę zmian językowych i skuteczność działań komunikacyjnych. Celowościowy i pragmatyczny charakter zachowań komunikacyjnych ujawnia się szeroko w uwzględnionych przez Autorów kontekstach społecznych, politycznych i kulturowych. Prace zostały pogrupowane w trzy działy tematyczne: - Zjawiska, procesy i tendencje rozwojowe w słownictwie specjalistycznym (terminologii); - Dynamika mechanizmów słowotwórczych i leksykalnych; - Zmiany leksykalne we współczesnej komunikacji językowej i dyskursie. Wyodrębnione działy pomagają uporządkować przedstawioną w tomie problematykę, wskazując na dominantę tematyczną w poszczególnych tekstach. Zakresy tych grup nie są jednak ostre, złożona i wielowarstwowa problematyka tendencji i zmian we współczesnym słownictwie słowiańskim jest omawiana w różnym stopniu w każdym z wydzielonych działów. W większości prac zastosowano podejście konfrontatywne, pozostałe stanowią podstawę do takiego ujęcia. Do badań wykorzystany został bogaty materiał języków słowiańskich: polskiego, czeskiego, słowackiego, białoruskiego, rosyjskiego, ukraińskiego, bułgarskiego, słoweńskiego, a także innych języków, jak np. nowogreckiego. ; This volume of studies by Polish and international linguists is devoted to changes in modern Slavic languages, which are especially noticeable in the spheres of vocabulary and word formation. Taking into consideration the stylistic and functional aspect of lexis development allows for a better understanding of the dynamics of language change and the efficacy of communicational acts. The purposeful and pragmatic character of communicational behaviour manifests itself widely in the social, political and cultural contexts considered by the Authors. The works comprising the volume are divided into three thematic sections: - Phenomena, processes and tendencies in the development of specialist lexis (terminology); - Word formation and lexical mechanisms dynamics; - Lexical change in modern language communication and discourse. The sections help organize the volume by highlighting the dominant theme in particular texts. The scopes of the sections are, nevertheless, not sharply delineated – each section is to an equal extent devoted to the complex and multifaceted subject-matter of the tendencies and changes in modern Slavic vocabulary. Most of the works comprised in the volume adopt a contrastive approach, the remaining ones can serve as bases for contrastive studies. The text analyse the rich material of the Slavic languages – Polish, Czech, Slovak, Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Slovene – as well as of other languages, like Modern Greek. ; Publikacja finansowana ze środków Instytutu Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Religion in contemporary Europe has been forced out of politics but religious themes repeatedly return in European politics. The article deals with the question of how the Catholic faith, as a symbol of identification, and the political and social issues conditioned by Catholic faith influence current European policy. Sociological research has indicated a link between identification with the Church and social attitudes, and the influence of religious identification on the approach toward European integration. The key theme of the article is the analysis of religious topics at the political level and the consequences of the struggle of the cross, as well as the resulting influence on political or judicial power in European countries. Using specific examples, it is shown that some of the manifestations of the Catholic faith represent an identification symbol and that religious themes have remained strong. Adapted from the source document.

The survey covers the first weeks of quarantine measures after the first diagnosed case of COVID-19 in Slovakia on March 6 2020. At the time of the fieldwork – on March 24 2020 – Slovakia introduced obligatory wearing of face mask outside of home. Before the fieldwork schools have been closed as well as shops and services (with the exception of groceries, chemists, medical supplies, drugstores, petrol stations as well as post offices, banks, insurance services and several other businesses). The survey monitors fears of the disease, the expected duration of the epidemic, agreement and compliance with the introduced quarantine measures and changes of behavior at times of the epidemic. Surveyed are also fears of loosing work, changes in the income situation and changes in leisure time activities and relations within households. Questions on changes in shopping behavior are also covered. This is the first survey from the "How are you, Slovakia?" survey series.

This study concentrates on the analysis of social structure of medieval society and accordingly on the acquisition of knowledge (1) about their orderliness, (2) inner processes (3) and least partially their influence on the process of formation of West civilization. In the next sequence article deals with development medieval structure in the context Elias civilization's theory as well as and closely knots on the inquiry of distinguished contemporary medievalists, mainly G. Duby, J. le Goff, A. Gurevič, F. Cardini, M. Bloch, etc. In addition, submitted study focuses on deeply understanding specific structure of medieval society through application binary and dichotomous approaches, theory of three orders, also theory of feudalization. In the end the research is attending on the phenomena of knighthood and the process of formation of the courtly society.