Suchergebnisse

The analysis builds on existing empirical and theoretical literature in the field of job polarization, which is primarily focused on advanced economies. Hypotheses of the incidence of "skill-biased" and "routine-biased" technical change in the Visegrad group countries are verified in the analysis. The aim is to find out whether the impact of technical change on the labour market in the V4 countries is similar to or different than that in advanced economies. The analytical part is primarily performed on the EU-LFS. The results suggest that the structure of the labour market has changed in the V4 countries in a heterogeneous way. In Hungary and Slovakia, there was an apparent slight job polarization over the period under review. In addition, the evidence suggests that the technical change in these countries may be of a "routine-biased" nature. On the contrary, the pattern of "upgrading" was evident in the Czech Republic and Poland, where the evidence suggests "skill-biased" technical change.

These reflections on the state & problems of Czech sociology after twelve years of free development include thoughts on its seven weaknesses that either at present or at least potentially pose a threat to Czech sociology, deprive it of the ability to compete, & lower the level of its prestige in society & the value of its scientific results. These weaknesses include: (1) the division of Czech sociology into qualitative & quantitative sociology, including the intolerance that accompanies this state; (2) the uncritical acceptance of only the most basic & superficial results of sociology by the political sphere in the form of percentages & speculations relating to them; (3) the somber state of under-financing in academic sociology; (4) the difficulties affecting post-secondary school teachers on the one hand & researchers at the Academy of Sciences on the other; (5) the need for cooperation with other sociologists in the region; (6) cooperation with Europe & the world; & (7) morals & integrity, without which, in the author's firm opinion, it is impossible to conduct sociological research.

This article deals with the political problematisation of gender inequalities in the context of the European Union's gender equality policies on a supranational level. Based on the concept of transnational advocacy networks (TAN), the first part of the article presents the European Women's Lobby and units at the European Commission dealing with gender equality policies as two key actors in TAN that promote gender equality issues within the structures of the EU. The article then moves on to describe policy frame analysis as an approach to analysing the way in which the gender inequalities addressed by these actors are politically problematised in three policy documents connected to the European Commission's 'Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men 2006–2010'. The analysis focuses on the main frames in these documents that legitimise the existence of an independent policy field concerned with gender equality at the EU level and discusses the ramifications of these frames for the promotion of gender equality; for example, how certain policy measures might lead to different outcomes when promoted within different frames.

The aim of this article is to explain educational reproduction in the Czech Lands between 1906 and 2003 from the perspective of educational mobility. Mobility trends in the intergenerational transmission of educational status identified in an analysis are presented in the context of findings on odds ratios in education and in a historical context. The analysis is based on observations of the intergenerational transmission of educational status, i.e. educational mobility, in two educational transitions between three educational levels (lower secondary, upper secondary, and higher education). Mobility tables and their log-linear analysis are used to help explain what mobility processes shape the educational inequalities that have proved stable over the long term and also odds ratios between the main levels of education. The article helps fill in the gap in knowledge about the long-term development of the educational structure in the historical Czech Lands and Czechoslovakia and provides information about typical mobility trajectories and varying mobility patterns in periods before 1948, between 1948 and 1989, and after 1989. An understanding of these structural contexts helps clarify what occurred in the past and what is occurring now in the area of unequal access to education and to explain one of the main findings from the analysis – that in Czech society the transmission of a family's educational status from one generation to the next continuously follows the same patterns.

Since the time of its foundation (1990) the Slovak National Party (SNS) has been able to pool approximately 5-10 % of votes. During most of its 15 years existence there was a permanent crisis in the party and one could observe numerous clashes between particular groups in the Slovakian party system. As a result of this in-party fragmentation the SNS disintegrated in 2001. Following the division of supporter's votes between two successor parties, the SNS lost its parliament representation. This was the main impulse for the antagonized leaders to change their relations and start a process of integration which was successfully finished on March 3rd 2005 – the 15th anniversary of the party. From the beginning of 2005, the SNS has been enjoying growing popularity (7%) and has a good chance to succeed in the next parliamentary elections in autumn 2006.

The paper focuses on reflection of the First World War in presidential speeches in years
1990–2013. This period delimits mandates of former Czech presidents Václav Havel and Václav
Klaus. Ways in which both presidents referred to the historical event and in which they utilized its
interpretation for legitimization of their political goals are compared. As its theoretical framework,
the study utilizes an approach that has been developed by Jeffrey Alexander and Philip Smith as
part of their program in cultural sociology. The study aims to identify the most significant cultural
codes and narrative strategies of the analyzed speeches and to relate them to (supra)nationalistic
metanarratives that they help to maintain. The study also points to the fact that presidential
speeches represent an important case of utilization of past for the purposes of legitimization of
state policy while also being a practice with which states are established.

This contribution is dealing with an evaluation of tourism position in the Czech society in the end of the 19th century and in the first decades of the 20th century. Tourism depending on social and economic state of society is examined as one of the attributes of modern society. The attention is preliminary paid to tourism development trends in the 19th century and to its position in the modernizing Czech society. The main part analyses tourism importance for individual social strata of the Czech society in the period under consideration. Analysis of tourism form from individual tourists' view and their preferences didn't stay out of attention.

This study deals with application of the Norbert Elias's theory of sociogenesis to the case of early Czech state formation. For this purpose we focus on the mechanisms of emergence and establishing of the state monopoly, as well as on the aspects of decentralization and privatization of state power during reign of first Premyslid dukes - from 860 to 1230 AD. In the second place, the article tries to compare the process of sociogenesis in the Western Europe with the dynamics of state formation that was typical for the contemporary Czech lands. In this context we claim that Elias made several mistakes, because he supposed that features and mechanisms of state formation were fairly unitary everywhere Europe. We try to challenge this notion show that the history of state making in the Central European region has many autonomous and unique aspects that differentiate it from social dynamics in other parts of the continent. From this critical pointof view, the article attempts a reformulation of Elias's theory for the Central European area.

Economic growth of the Czech Republic differed strongly in two periods: 2001-2003 and 2004-2006. While in the first period the average annual rate of growth of GDP reached only 2,7 %, in the second period the growth accelerated to 5,7%. The economic growth measured by the indicators of real income (namely of real gross domestic income) was faster. This was caused by positive contribution of the terms of trade. On the supply side the main contributing factors were labour and total factor productivity. On the demand side the growth was pulled by domestic demand which grew in the period 2001-2003 even faster than GDP. The contribution of foreign trade becomes positive in the years 2004-2006 with very strong contribution in the year 2005. Macroeconomic stability of the Czech economy improved substantially in the field of foreign trade. The trade balance becomes positive from the year 2004 and growing imbalance persists in the balance of income. The negative gap between savings and investments is caused mainly by households and general government. The process of real convergence accelerated in the years 2000-2006 and was based on the growth of labour and total factor productivity. In 2006 the GDP per capita in purchasing power standards reached almost 80% of the average level in EU-27. The comparative price level of the Czech Republic in this year reached only 61% despite accelerated process of catching-up. Adapted from the source document.