Suchergebnisse

The article deals with the conception of cleavages & the prerequisites and/or possibilities for its application in the study of modern collective action. First, a brief history of the concept is introduced & some of its key later interpretations & elaborations are used to clarify the original theories of social divides & political conflicts, & to explore their structure, character & actors in more detail. On the grounds of these suggestions, the article reviews the cleavage "freezing" thesis & discusses the processes of transformation of modern cleavages, as well as the rise of "new politics" & "new social movements." Finally, a model of cleavage hybridization is proposed in order to explain the character, political context & history of some major present-day social movements. Adapted from the source document.

The Czech Republic is often said to be one of the most secular countries in Europe, or even in the world. For this, in accord with the secularization thesis, the modernization is often mentioned, where it was supposed that it automatically leads to the decline of religion in society. In my paper, I recapitulate the basic points of the secularization thesis and dissect its criticism which seems to be aimed at the idea, that secularization represents just an unintended effect of modernization. Based on this criticism, I deduce resources for analysis of the religious situation in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, I prove that Czech society is not so much atheist, but more dechristianized, and I focus on reasons of this dechristianization in political, social and class conflicts, which had, according to my opinion, a great impact on Czech church's religionism. In this paper, I address the conflicts between socialist movement and the Catholic Church, which as a result had a substantial effect on the dechristianization of the czech working class.

A review essay on a book by Pavel Barsa & Ondrej Cisar, Levice v postrevolucni dobe. Obcanska spolecnost a nova socialni hnuti v radikalni politicke teorii 20. stoleti ([The Left in the Postrevolutionary Era. Civil Society and New Social Movements in Radical Political Theory of the Twentieth Century] Brno, Czech Republic: CDK, 2004). References.

Survey-based measures of subjective well-being are more and more often analyzed cross-culturally. However, international comparison of these measures requires measurement invariance. Therefore, the major goal of this study was to investigate the cross-country comparability of the five-item subjective well-being scales used in the International Social Survey Programme (2011, 2017). This study applied both the traditional exact and the more recent Bayesian approximate approach to assess whether the subjective well-being scales were measurement invariant. The Bayesian approach detected several non‑invariant items that were problematic for cross-national comparison and could be dropped from the scales. Consequently, measurement invariance was established in all countries for the reduced scales, allowing researchers to meaningfully compare their latent mean scores and the relationships with other theoretical constructs of interest. Thus, the study highlighted the advantages of using multiple indicators and the necessity of measurement invariance testing in subjective well-being research.

The article aims to identify the development phases in the process of the regional differentiation in the Czech Republic after 1989, & examines whether this differentiation trend is currently changing. The assumption the article's hypothesis is based on is that during recent development the basic 'parameters' of the principal features of the country's regional structure have been stabilized amidst the conditions of parliamentary democracy & a market economy. Unlike the first phases of socio- economic transition, when differentiating trends prevailed, a certain degree of stabilization can now be assumed, alongside the emergence of new trends. The development of regional differences was analyzed using indicators of GDP, the unemployment rate, entrepreneurial activity, & tax revenue from self- employed physical persons. The findings show that over the course of the 1990s regional differences intensified at both the mezo- regional (regional) level & the micro- regional level. It was also confirmed that at the turn of the millennium the phase of divergent regional development ended, & since that time regional differences have hovered around the same level.

The theme is crucial to the concrete question, whether moravian identity really exists. It´s about phenomena which is natural and important for some parts of population or on the other hand we can see this identity as the artificial problem. The main goal is connecting with results from the field work. I would like to explain something about moravian political elites according to the non-political activism. It´s also necessary to mark historical processes which are important for present time. The polemic should have done some reflexive view on regionalism, activation of moravian elites and civic movements. ; The theme is crucial to the concrete question, whether moravian identity really exists. It´s about phenomena which is natural and important for some parts of population or on the other hand we can see this identity as the artificial problem. The main goal is connecting with results from the field work. I would like to explain something about moravian political elites according to the non-political activism. It´s also necessary to mark historical processes which are important for present time. The polemic should have done some reflexive view on regionalism, activation of moravian elites and civic movements.

Im Aufsatz werden folgende Themen behandelt: die anhaltende Popularität von Labour und ihres Chefs, die Kontinuität in der Wirtschaftspolitik, die Gesetze über die Einführung des Parlaments in Schottland und Wales, die positive Entwicklung in Nordirland, die dramatische Reform des Oberhauses, die Vorbereitung einer Wahlrechtsreform, die neue Europapolitik, die Programmreform der konservativen Partei und deren schlechte Ergebnisse in den Meinungsumfragen sowie die Einstellung der Konservativen zur europäischen Integration. (BIOst-Hrs)

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.