Suchergebnisse

The article is based on the first sociological study of the attitudes and preferences of Czech men who identify themselves as gay towards (gay) fatherhood, family, and parenthood. The main arguments of the study evolve around the themes of the (overwhelmingly positive) parental desires of the gay men participating in the study; their internalised moral dilemmas connected to gay fatherhood; the reproductive choices and limits that structure the attitudes of gay men towards parenthood and family; and gender stereotypes about family/parenting models and the roles these men occupy. The article is divided into two main parts. The fi rst part introduces the context and current state of sociological scholarship and research on gay fatherhood and homoparentality. The second part of the article discusses results, an interpretation, and an analysis of the empirical findings of the study.

This paper examines the electoral results of two extreme right-wing parties, namely Národní Strana and Právo a Spravedlnost in the 2006 local elections. The basic method chosen is a comparative study of their electoral results at the level of those municipalities where they were present. Local results for the two political parties are also compared and contrasted with their previous performance in parliamentary elections. Additionally, a longer-term analysis of electoral support for Sdružení pro Republiku – Republikánská strana Československa and its successors present in the above elections will be investigated. The distribution of electoral support will be attributed to selected socioeconomic factors, number of young voters, education, nationality, and number of religious people in society. On this basis the presented text will try to show the interdependence of electoral behaviour.

In the Slovak parliamentary elections of 2010, the reformist centre-right parties defeated the left-nationalist coalition government led by Robert Fico. The election results brought some other surprises – the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia and its leader, three-times Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar, as well as the Party of Hungarian Coalition were eliminated from the national parliament. Moreover, the election outcome of the radical right-wing Slovak National Party declined significantly. On the other hand, two new parties entered parliament. All in all, the election outcomes show the weakening of the nationalist agenda and the nationalist vote. The paper examines why this has happened and raises the question of to what extent it is sustainable.

In this article the authors map the theoretical arguments on the gender dimension of the welfare state. They propose three integral dimensions of conceptualising the exercise of parenthood in Czech society in relation to gender equality in the labour market that co-determine the position of parents in the labour market. The authors analyse these dimensions using data from two representative sociological surveys. 1) The right to be a parent (to care for one's child) and the right to work: the measures provided in the Czech welfare state are based on the myth that there are two separate worlds of work and care in conformity with the gender principle, even though there are no significant differences between Czech men and women in terms of the value of work in their lives. 2) Equality or non-discrimination in parenthood: the right to work of mothers of young children is violated in the context of generally increasing gender inequalities in the labour market. 3) The opportunity to achieve a work/life balance: in Czech society flexible forms of employment are uncommon, working hours tend to have a fi xed start and finish, or there is negative flexibility, which renders a work/life balance impossible. The way in which state policy defi nes and employers apply the conditions of parenthood in relation to the labour market and in the context of the gender structure of Czech society makes parenthood a significant handicap for the social inclusion of women who are mothers of young children in the Czech Republic.

On 2 January 2020, the Government of the Czech Republic submitted a bill to the Chamber of Deputies amending the Labor Code. The bill was sent to deputies as press 689/0 on 2 January 2020. The proposed amendment to the Labor Code was compiled by the Ministry of Labor and Social Aff airs of the Czech Republic, among other objectives, with the aim of achieving compliance with national legislation with EU regulations and case law. The proposed amendment to the Labor Code should explicitly regulate the conditions for the transfer of the employer's activities, and further specify the conditions for giving notice by an employee pursuant to Section 51a of the Labor Code when transferring rights and obligations from employment relationships. It is precisely in the issue of conditions for the transfer of the employer's activities that the current legal regulation has been repeatedly criticized due to insuffi cient use of EU legislation for the national legal regulation of the transfer of rights and obligations from labor relations.

The article analyses the evolution of the Slovak political party "Smer" (Direction) and its position in the party system of Slovak Republic. The article focuses on the shift of the party program from the "Centrist Populism" towards "Social Democracy." According to the first program documents the Party of "Smer" (Direction) was designed as pragmatic, non-ideological party. In the persistent conflict between authoritarianism vs. democracy "Smer" identified itself as the pro-democratic and pro-market force. Party policy before 2002 contained only few social democratic components; it was closer to the conservative or right-wing populist parties. After the parliamentary election 2002 and the failure of non-communist left "Smer" decided to become a member of the Socialist International (SI) and Party of European Socialists (PES). The process of the institutional approach to the international Social Democratic Party structures was accompanied by the substantial changes in the social and economic program of the party. The process was completed on the institutional level in May 2005, when Smer joined both SI and PES, and on the level of political program on the Party Congress in December 2005. In the process of so called "socialdemocratisation" of "Smer" the international factor played crucial role, especially the need to have an international partner in the European Parliament. "Smer" met the standards of the Social Democratic identity only in the social and economic affairs. The other five dimensions - environmental policy, participative democracy, cultural and human-rights dimension, supra-national dimension and the dimension of equality and freedom "Smer" met only partially or not at all, so these process remains unfinished. According to some political declarations "Smer" remains the populist party and the uncompromising critic of the right-wing government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, on the other side the official documents of the party anticipate only the moderate corrections of the economical and social reforms, ...

This paper maps and compares the main topics articulated by political parties in their manifestos published for the Slovak parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2012. First, the paper discusses the conceptual grounds of policy space dynamics. Next, it outlines the method used for the research, based upon quantitative content analysis of the parties' manifestos of the Comparative Manifestos Project Group. Relevance of individual issues is measured by their representation in manifestos. The paper also examines the change in parties' priorities for the 2012 election compared to the election of 2010. With the help of an additional methodology tool, the parties under review are then put along a left-right spectrum. Using this technique, the policy space during the period of both elections is examined. Simultaneously, party shifts along the left-right spectrum that emerged from the obtained data are presented. The final section of the article exposes the descriptive results to the theoretical assumptions about policy space dynamics presented in the beginning. Adapted from the source document.

A specifi c feature of Czech women today, who are timing the motherhood or staying childless after thirty, stems from their socialisation in a different political and demographical regime than they were in at the start of their reproductive period. The changes connected with the transformation of Czech society after 1989 affected their life courses. Instead of following the demographic behaviour of their mothers why do these women postpone motherhood to a later age or remain childless? What do the life courses and reproductive strategies of contemporary women over thirty look like? The qualitative research discussed in this article is based on in-depth interviews with primaparas over thirty and their childless peers conducted in order to examine the dynamics and character of their decision to become a mother. The research applied grounded theory and identifi ed fi ve different types of reproductive strategies: 'to have a child no matter what', 'to have a child with the right partner', 'waiting for the right time', 'hesitating over whether to have a child or not', 'not having a child'. Consequently the specific sources of these strategies were described. Background family experiences combined with the experiences from the period of childlessness in adulthood can lead to the development of an 'individualised habitus', which can block the transition to the motherhood phase. In the Czech context the development of an individualised habitus can be strengthened by the unequal distribution of gender roles in the family of origin as well as in partnerships in adulthood.

The status of minorities is in the modern world generally considered to be one of the measures of consolidation of democracy. This text analyzes position of members of Italian and Hungarian minorities in Slovene political system and the rate of their political participation in the decision-making process. The first part of this study is based on the analysis of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and other fundamental laws that determinate the position of autochthonous minorities in Slovenia. The second part subsequently deals with the real possibilities of minorities' representatives to influence political decisions and their ability to enforce their rights and claims both on the local and state level.

One of few can enjoy the pleasures of living in a time of transition to democracy and have the opportunity to comment on the development and raise critical questions about the future of the Central and Eastern Europe. Editors Kaldor and Vejvoda pose several such questions right at the beginning of their book: Do political systems within CEEC represent a particular variant of democracy that is specific to this part of the world? Is it possible to talk about a post-communist model sui generis that is influenced by the legacy of communism and at the same time by both the weaknesses and strengths of western democracy? Can we talk about an emergent concept of European Democratic Space [term introduced by editors] as a way of consolidating democracy in Central and Eastern European Countries and of reinvigorating democracy in Western Europe? ; One of few can enjoy the pleasures of living in a time of transition to democracy and have the opportunity to comment on the development and raise critical questions about the future of the Central and Eastern Europe. Editors Kaldor and Vejvoda pose several such questions right at the beginning of their book: Do political systems within CEEC represent a particular variant of democracy that is specific to this part of the world? Is it possible to talk about a post-communist model sui generis that is influenced by the legacy of communism and at the same time by both the weaknesses and strengths of western democracy? Can we talk about an emergent concept of European Democratic Space [term introduced by editors] as a way of consolidating democracy in Central and Eastern European Countries and of reinvigorating democracy in Western Europe?

EU programme documents designed to influence the social policies of the member states are filled with concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion. This paper aims to clarify these concepts as they are employed in academic and public policy discourse and to discuss the societal function of this discourse and the impact of the European agenda of social inclusion. The authors show that although concepts of social exclusion and social inclusion are far from straightforward in meaning, their influence on public policy discourse and agenda is evident. The reason is that they redirect social policy towards a multidimensional approach, towards balancing rights and obligations, and towards more complex but also local and individualised policies, though the corresponding discourse bears the normative features of a social 'vision'. The EU's social policy agenda exhibits aspirations towards and some potential for achieving real policy change. On the other hand, there are reservations about its true impact. In this respect, the specifi c societal and political context of its implementation plays a crucial role.

Slovak parliamentary election in September 2002 brought with it a few surprises. First, the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) gained "only" 19,5% of votes (comp. 1992 – 37%, 1994 – 35% and 1998 – 27%). On the one side Mečiar´s HZDS formally won. On the other side it was not able to find some coalition partners and stayed outside government. Second, the election result of the new charismatic party Směr ("Direction") - 13,5% of votes, third place in election – was "weak" too. The main election aim of the party leader Robert Fico - the office of the primary minister – didn´t work out as he planned. The situation resulted in opposition position of Směr after election.Third surprise was a very good election result (15,1%, second place) of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ). Thus, the leader of SDKÚ Mikuláš Dzurinda could form relatively homogenous coalition government (with three small right – wing and centre – wing parties).

"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)

This paper is based on a survey among 435 Czech households caring for a dependent senior in the family to inquire into the conditions and circumstances of caring for seniors in the family. The concept of 'care as a labour of love' (Graham) is contrasted with the concept of the 'defamilisation of care' (Glenn) and 'social rights for elderly care' (Fine). The author finds that more demanding family care, measured as the level of IADL or BADL, is reflected in a growing number of hours spent on family care. The author shows the significant differences in the psychological and financial burden experienced by primary caregivers in relation to how demanding the level of care required is. The article presents evidence of the existence of 'collective family care' in situations where demanding personal care for a senior is required. The participation of other family members in providing care for a senior in situations of demanding personal care demonstrates some features of family cohesion.