Completed project

Detraditionalization and individualization of religion in the Czech Republic and their socio-political and socio-economic consequences

Project duration: 
2006 - 2008

The project aims to analyze processes of detraditionalization, individualization and privatization of religious values and forms of religious life in contemporary Czech society, including implicit ones and their functional equivalents. Although surveys show that the level of (declared) religiosity of Czech population is low, qualitative studies have carried out that current religiosity/spirituality is to a great extent defined by privatized and detraditionalized „post-Durkheimian“ forms, that significantly influence political and economic behaviour of people, often without direct awareness of the actors. The apparent rationality of socio-economic and political action, which is counted by neoclassical theories, is thus shown to be a fiction leading to incorrect models and predictions. The project is therefore going to focus its research on the analysis of deep-seated roots of such actions, and their practical impacts in social processes including family life and reproduction, social action and relationship to supra-individual entities, etc. The project is theoretically and methodologically grounded in sociology of religion, economic sociology, history and social anthropology. Apart from multidisciplinary theoretical elaboration of the problem, the project is going to include both quantitative and qualitative empirical surveys.

Principal investigator: 
Topics: 
religion and religiosity
Grant agency: 
Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
Department: 

Project publications (total 13, displaying 1 - 10)

Nešpor, Zdeněk R., David Václavík a kolektiv

The encyclopedia of sociology of religion, which oulines all the fundamentals historic and contemporary debates within the discipline, its development, method(s) and contribution of seminal scholars.

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Monograph
Hamplová, Dana

Abstract

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Value Orientations in Society
Type of publication:
Chapter in monograph
Hamplová, Dana

Abstract

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Value Orientations in Society
Type of publication:
Chapter in monograph
Hamplová, Dana

This article analyses the socio-demographic factors that are linked with religious beliefs. There are two dimensions: a "traditional" Christianity and an "alternative" view connected with a belief in the power of magic.

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Value Orientations in Society
Type of publication:
Article with impact factor
Večerník, Jiří

The article witnesses about fast development of consumption in the Czech Republic after 1989. First, basic features of consumption under the communism are exposed. Second, the likely impact of transition on the economic situation of households is discussed. Third, changes in patterns of family expenditures are documented. Fourth, the consumer scene with its agencies and clients is sketched. Both the positive and negative features of booming consumption are summarized in conclusion.

Topic:
economics, wages and incomes, consumption, transformation
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Article with impact factor
Nešporová, Olga

  

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Peer-reviewed journal article
Nešporová, Olga

The study describes new social habit ľ creating public roadside memorials in the Czech Republic. They generally take the form of permanent constructions to remind travellers of both the accident and the deceased; most often young men. Such memorials are constructed and visited by the bereaved - parents and other relatives (spouse, siblings) or friends. The memorial has a special meaning for those who build it; it represents an intimate bond with both the life and death of the victim.

Topic:
religion and religiosity, care
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Article with impact factor
Nešpor, Zdeněk R.

The paper analyses character and sources of contemporary best selling spiritual literature and its readership in the Czech Republic. It also provides a case study of a Prague spiritual bookshop and its comparison with five other Czech spiritual outlets and the outcomes of similar studies in Western Europe.

 

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Peer-reviewed journal article
Lužný, Dušan, Zdeněk R. Nešpor a kol.

The book resumes qualitative research on religion in two medium-szided Czech towns - Ceska Lipa and Mikulov - that took place in 2007-08 within the framework of a project on Detraditionalization and Individualization of Religion in the Czech Republic; the research was inspired by a study of Kendal made by the University of Lancaster.

Topic:
religion and religiosity
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Monograph
Nešpor, Zdeněk R.

The paper discuses the role of religion, including Islam, and post-Christian opposition towards religiosity in contemporary European Union. I tis concerned with the issue of the construction of Europe´s negative boundaries, and describes religious organizations activities in the proces sof europeanization and actual transnational politics.

 

Topic:
EU, religion and religiosity
Department:
Economic Sociology
Type of publication:
Peer-reviewed journal article

Pages

Attached files