Journal Czech Society Archive

The electronic version of the second number of the eighth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The electronic version of the first number of the ninth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

>> Full text is available in Czech only <<

The electronic version of the second number of the ninth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. 

>> Full text is available in Czech only <<

The article deals with developments of the Internet elections project in Estonia. The expansion of internet voting in Estonia is closely associated with communication and information technology development in this country. The purpose of the article is to provide policy analysis, analysis of security principles and legal analysis with a survey of the development of internet voting in Estonia. The accent is put on comfortable and trustworthy voting procedure at the same time. This study also aims to assess the impact of internet voting on voter turnout.

The electronic version of the second number of the tenth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The following text outlines some aspects of people‘s decision making process during elections in modern mass democracies. Particularly, the aspect of (in)competence of electorate or, as the case may be, the problem of rationality of the political audiance that creates the public opinion. The arguments proving the discrepancy between the normativ and the empiric character of public opinion are purposly disbalanced based on the evaluation of reality.

The text has two parts. The first part attempts to give a broader overview of empirical sociological research in the Czech Republic on the basis of available data from project databases. The main producers of empirical research in the Czech Republic and the thematic focus of this research are then analyzed. In the second part of the article the access to the already available data sources is described, especially to those data files that are stored in the Sociological Data Archive. Important international surveys, which took place also in the Czech Republic and access to data files from this projects is then presented.

The electronic version of the first number of the tenth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The article is divided into three main parts. In the first part, an overview of scholarly views on trust/trustworthiness is provided. The second part is concerned with the issue of how the politicians’ trustworthiness is measured by contemporary research agencies. In the third part, the experiment on politicians’ trustworthiness utilizing a new method is reported. This method is based on indirect questioning and it builds on the hypothesis that the more trustworthy a politician is, the more people will agree with his statements and consider them seriously. Four parallel questionnaires were employed. The first questionnaire (N=53) contained 10 short fictitious quotations and subjects were asked to rate them according to their solidness, acceptability, and positivity, and they were asked to say to what extent did they agree with them. Five of these quotations were used in the next three questionnaires (N=48;47;42) and the names of five Czech politicians (K. Schwarzenberg, A. Vondra, R. John, V. Filip and B. Sobotka) were attached to them. No name was attached to the same quotation twice. Respondents were divided into four independent groups and each group responded to one questionnaire. The independent two-sample t-test was used for the comparison of the ratings and 20 statistically significant results were obtained. This means the method could be one of the keys for a better future understanding of such a complex notion as the trustworthiness of politicians is.

This study employs a range of up-to-date statistical information, including the findings of two nationwide surveys conducted on the author’s behalf, to evaluate current perceptions of Slovak in the Czech Republic. Where appropriate, the results are compared with the evidence of other questionnaires.

The electronic version of the first number of the eleventh edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

This theoretical essay explores the concepts of cultural and popcultural citizenships in connection with the period of state socialism in 70s and 80s in Czechoslovakia. The main intention is to test the potential of the concept of popcultural citizenship, which is inspired by John Hartley´s “do-it-yourself citizenship”. Another aim is to examine textual properties of so called “normalization” television serials with regard to the extent to which it allowed for semiosis to be controlled by the viewers.

The following text presents the results of sociological survey, conducted by Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, in september 2009. This extensive field survey mapped attitudes and public opinion on selected topics and issues that touch the twentieth anniversary of the November revolution in 1989.

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Review of the book Hana Hašková, Zuzana Uhde (eds.): Women and Social Citizenship in Czech Society: Continuity and Change.

Researches of election preferences are probably the most monitored products of agencies for public opinion research. The information, which returns via media back to the public, not only describes social reality, but sometimes also co-creates this reality. Results of the researches as such can affect public attitudes. For this reason, among others, we should understand what information the...

The electronic version of the second number of the eleventh edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Červenka, Jan. 2013. „Ekonomika a veřejné mínění: Koresponduje subjektivní hodnocení s reálným vývojem?" Naše společnost 11 (2): 53-69,

The text discusses the relationship between real economic development, which is primarily measured by conventional statistical macroeconomic indicators, and the public opinion on economic development, whose regular monitoring offers a number of subjective indicators. Empirical data from the period of the independent Czech Republic show that subjective indicators reflect the real economic situation and its changes over time. In a broader sense the paper highlights some of the practical difficulties, which always arise when interpreting the results of public opinion polls and similar quantitative sociological investigations in this area.

The electronic version of the first number of the twelfth edition of the review Czech Society (Naše společnost). Czech Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

This paper deals with the representation of national and ethnic identity categories in media texts during the Population and Housing Census 2011. Census is understood here as means of constructing collective identities not as clearly pre-defined categories but as socially and media shaped parts of an individual identity. The aim of this study is thus to analyze media representations of Population and Housing Census 2011 as an event that highlights the negotiation of collective identities and the processes of the so called “identitary mobilization”. Quantitative analysis of selected articles from national newspapers enriched by findings of qualitative analysis of comments and videos from the new media shows, among others, that the Census is often represented through a kind of media discourse called national in this paper and that the processes of identitary mobilization acquire specific forms during the Census, although probably not limited to its actual period.

The electronic version of the second number of the twelfth edition of the review Our Society (Naše společnost). Our Society issues Center for Public Opinion Research, Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.