2014/1

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 degree of party polarization is a significant analytical measure contributing to our understanding of the party system development and it’s dynamic in time. It influences the government formation and indirectly also its stability. Moreover, the party polarization affects electoral choice and thus the voter decision-making process. Despite these it has been wrongfully neglected in the Czech political science literature so far. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap and present empirically backed data on the intensity and change of the party polarization in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on the data sets of CVVM which monthly records the voter self-placement on the left-right scale in the long term. By analysing these data and using Dalton's index of party system polarization it is proved that party polarization in the Czech Republic has generally increased since 1993 and that it was usually higher during General election campaign. Within the period under review (1993-2013) the polarization index reached its lowest value in 2001, while the highest value was found in June 2010.

The aim of this review article is to assess the use of different research methods in empirical studies on the influence of new media on journalism. It analyses all articles related to the topic which were published between 2006-2013 in three selected prestigious academic journals – Journalism, Journalism Studies and New Media & Society. Employing the principles of systemic review, the articles are grouped in three temporal categories according to the methods applied in the research they present. It is concluded that mostly traditional research methods were used in the analysed period, only with minor adaptation to the new communication environment. Only from 2009 some tendencies towards a change of classical methods (software analysis, various combinations of methods) and techniques (using of special software which helps to study new internet phenomena such as social networks sites Facebook and Twitter) are evident.

The aim of the study is to provide basic summary of the factors that influence the involvement of grandparents in the care for young children in the Czech families and to introduce a typology of the patterns of grandparent role. The paper presents results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The first part of the paper uses the data from the second wave of SHARE 1) to outline the typology of grandparents’ involvement with respect to different forms and intensity of contacts with grandchildren and the geographical proximity of family members and 2) to map how the socio-demographic factors influence the forms and intensity of involvement in the care for grandchildren. The second part of the paper focuses on the subjective experience of Czech mothers and grandmothers. 18 mothers and 12 grandmothers of children younger than 10 years were interviewed. The paper points out the existence of various conceptions of grandmothers’ role in the Czech families.

The aim of this article is to explain the role of educational and training programmes that represent both the key labour market policy tool increasing labour force employability and the lifelong learning policy tool contributing to the lifelong learning concept. On the basis of the exploration of wide range of related literature, statistics and research studies we describe existing types and goals of educational and training programmes which are used as key measures of public policy in different countries. At the same time we reflect the role of these programmes in current changing economic and social conditions and their link to the principles of flexicurity policy.