Journal Czech Society Archive

Following text presents some findings concerning the civic culture in the Czech Republic based on results of a special survey conducted in August of 2009 as a part of international comparative research project commemorating the 50th anniversary of realization of G. A. Almond’s and S. Verba’s original survey and their classic study The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations.

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 above was the front page slogan under which the periodical Public Opinion appeared in the years 1946 - 1948. Its publisher was the Czechoslovak Institute for Public Opinion Research. The monthly was intended for both the professional as for the general public. It was published with 15 to 34 pages. It contained theoretical and methodological articles by foremost Czech sociologist as well as by international representatives of the field.

The article stands as the fourth part of a series about the question answering process during standardized surveys and elaborates the phase of editing the response. Major moments and processes are explained that affect the shape of final answer at this stage and the narrow relationship of these facts to the nature and quality of survey data is pointed out. Step by step those phenomenons like rounding of numerical answers, the effect of answering scales in terms of its range, frequency, polarity or response order are elaborated and facts like response styles, range-frequency effect or positivity bias are mentioned.

Smoking becames the important and relevant health and social problem in the Czech republic as well as in the world. Tobacco together with alcohol is the first habit forming substance, which the child contacts or which somebody offers to him. The aim of the research is to map the situation of using of legal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, by the children in the basic schools of the region of South Bohemia.

The article pursue how the concept of „social cohesion“ is understood by the Czech public. Firstly, the respondents predominantly do not know the concept; in addition spontaneous answers to the open-ended questions show that different meanings are associated with this concept. The second part analyses the battery of statements “what creates a cohesive society”. Three latent dimensions were identified: values of reciprocity and equality, collective identity and European liberalism.

In January 2003 Centre for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) conducted a survey, which was, apart from other things, aimed at a family and family life. Our report pursues issues related to establishing a family, especially timing of certain events, and also to attitudes of the questioned to certain controversial issues of relations between couples. These opinions document well how open or conservative the respondents are.

Non-profit organisations are an important part of modern society. Also, they are one of the key institutionalised players in interest mediation. The main topic of the article is the issue of operation of third sector and civil participation in the Czech Republic. The notion of civil participation comprises involvement of citizens in the public sector, separated from (but not independent of) the state, and the economic sector.

The issue of international migration seems to have become more relevant lately than any time before. The debatable and sometimes problematic demonstration of the human right to decide freely about their place of residence becomes even more popular in the era of technical progress and modernization. Higher access to travelling, attractive pictures of distant countries and unknown lands presented by media, uneven economic development of various countries and parts of the world, political problems and ethnic conflicts force people away from their homelands and lure them to move elsewhere.

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 article deals with situation, attitudes and behaviour of members of Prague's Russian immigrant community. At the beginning an overview of recent socio-economic development in Russia, existing findings about Russian minority in the Czech Republic and Czech citizens’ attitudes towards Russians are presented. The core of the article is presentation of main results of a survey conducted by the author in spring 2010 among members of Russian community that live in Prague and its surroundings. Among the main hypotheses that came out of the survey is growth of importance of positive motivations to migrate, extension of geographical and social basis from which migrants come, continuity of self-isolation of the community combined with strong ties to the country of origin and rise of Russian ethnic economy in Prague.

The article examines the Czech educational praxis toward integration of immigrant children. Although the number of immigrant children increased during past several years, Czech national educational policy still lacks specific measures which would systematically promote inclusive education and integration of immigrant children. The article aims to describe the experience of schools with integration of immigrant children at schools, and to identify the most important barriers that prevent full participation of immigrant children according to accounts of interviewees. Based on 21 in-depth interviews with representatives of school staff in 11 Prague public-sector základní škola (ISCED 1+2) with higher share of immigrant children (5-20 %), the paper provides insight into diverse into the ways how schools deal with immigrant children, families´ acculturation strategies and inclusive educational policy. The article concludes with a discussion of “immigrant paradox”, highly achieving minorities (particularly Vietnamese students).

The publication dissects media perception of environmental issues within Ostrava region. Media are those who pick the stories edit them and throughout their agenda make shifts in ideas of individuals. In 2010 we have experienced skyrocketing of the media coverage of environmental issues related to Ostrava region, mostly attributed by reporting on air pollution. As available researches witnessed, there is a tight relation in public minds in between City of Ostrava, Ostrava region and Moravian-Silesian Region. This fact makes the research easier in the way we could often take in Moravian-Silesian Region figures as to be valid for the City of Ostrava as well as for Ostrava region and vice versa. The objective of the paper is to prove a hypothesis, that media have retained the coverage intensity of a given topic as they did in 2010.

Decrees of the President of the Republic, more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President Edvard Beneš. This article deals with this for the Czech history important topic und it analyses, how these decrees perceives Czech society. The theoretical background captures the concept of the historical memory (M. Halbwachs). Important finding is, that it‘s slightly increasing the number of people who promote their boundless force.

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.

Parliamentary elections in May 2010 ended with unexpected and somewhat revolutionary results: they brought heavy losses to all traditional established parties within the Czech party system, which appeared to be relatively stable since the second half of 1990s, two lesser parliamentary parties were eliminated from the Chamber of Deputies, and two new political parties emerged among successful subjects surpassing quite easily the existing electoral clause of five percent. The text analyzes these results, as well as some attitudes of Czech public identified by exit poll and other sociological surveys and post-election development, and it tries to answer the question, whether the elections in 2010 meant any deep and lasting shift in long-term development of the party system in the Czech Republic or whether it was rather an incidental anomaly without persistent impact on the party system, which will gradually restore itself more or less in the shape that characterized it for one and half of decade before the elections in 2010. 
>> Full text is available in Czech only <<

This research aims at quantitative analysis of time perspectives in the Czech society. For this purpose, Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory was used. The battery consists of 56 items comprising five time dimensions (orientations): Past Positive, Past Negative, Hedonistic Presence, Fatalistic Presence and Future. The data was gathered from a representative sample of the Czech population in the years 2003 and 2008. The factor analysis showed evidence for a multifactor structure which, in principal, does not differ from the original American version of ZTPI nor its adaptations in other countries. On the basis of item analysis, we adjusted the model to suit the Czech data as much as possible. In the Czech sample, orientations on the positive past and on the future were comparatively the strongest ones. Relations of time orientation with age, gender, level of education and religious faith were observed. 
>> Full text is available in Czech only <<

This paper deals with results of a special survey focused on the problem (issue) of historical consciousness of Communist Party voters. The opening part of the article presents a theoretical and methodological framework: there is introduced an operationalization of concepts such as collective memory, historical consciousness, collective identity, and also outlined the position of the Communist Party in the Czech post-communist political system. The empirical part of the text is devoted to the problems of Czech modern history, particularly to the way in which Communist Party electorate in different contexts assesses various historical periods or phenomena prior to 1989 and also how a subsequent systemic change is reflected. 
>> Full text is available in Czech only <<

Media Tenor tracked media coverage of political parties in periods of three months prior to elections to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 and 2010. Czech Social Democratic Party enjoyed overwhelming media prevalence in a first analyzed period, Civic Democratic Party prevailed in 2010. Neither of instances resulted in a highest voting outcome for the most covered party. The research confirmed private news services to be keeping conservative approaches while (not) presenting new and not well-known political groups. They covered TOP 09 Party and Public Affairs Party (Věci veřejné) rather marginally in 2010. Researchers focused also on a coverage of chairmen of main parties and air-time enjoyed by politicians to quote own party or co-party members. 
>> 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 fact that recent demographic data have been pointing to gradual but consistent dying out of Europe has become the key point of strong filosophic, political and other clashes in the last years. Most discussions focus especially on the issues related to the causes of this situation, thus rather omitting the real consequences on everyday lives of Europeans in the upcoming decades. Namely the economic and sociological impacts. 
The structure of population change in terms of nationality is the second important process in today’s Europe: The majority population comprising original nationalities on whose basis the state composition of Europe had been formed is gradually losing its dominance. Conversely, immigrants (particularly Muslims) and their children are gaining more and more influence on the structure of society. 
Various kinds of economic pressure are related to these processes, which in the future will inevitably grow into the shape of events completely changing the society and its economic systém. I assume that in order to maintain its economic power, traditional European population will go through a process, during which some usual democratic principles and traditions will be put aside, for example the attitude towards the right to vote will change. 
That is because despite many complications, traditional European society will behave quite economically by keeping its political power as a guarantee of its economic power, and particularly as a guarantee that the standards of living and thus the possibility of satisfying one’s needs – manifesting itself through life style, among other things – will be preserved. 
>> Fulltext is available in Czech only <<

This article describes the attitudes of the Czech public towards the Velvet Revolution, and towards the social situation preceding and following it. The text deals with the general image of Velvet Revolution in the context of modern Czech history, tracks public opinion on this event, deals with evaluations of the period before and after November 1989, and handles assessments of the whole previous period. The event of the Velvet Revolution in Czech history is seen predominantly as a highlight, and as a positive phase in Czech history. Similarly, the stage that followed is seen in a predominantly positive light, although not so much as the change of political regime itself. However, there is a significant difference between how Czech public opinion judged the first and second decades after the Velvet Revolution. According to the public, not all areas of society have showed improvement during the latter period; in some cases developments are viewed negatively. 
>> Fulltext is available in Czech only <<

Based on data from three group interviews conducted with groups of “workers” and “professionals”, this article focuses on ways that interviews participants choose in their attempts to cope with sociologists’ demands to describe social structure of the contemporary Czech society. The key category adopted from the interviewers’ questions around which the arguments of participants were centered is the category of “success“. The author analyses measures of success mentioned by participants, its presuppositions, who is regarded as successful by them and which criteria of success they adopt. Also analyzed is the self-positioning of the interview participants and the social group they identify with in the notions of social structure presented by them in the course of the interviews. 
>> Fulltext is available in Czech only <<

The article deals with relationships between human capital and social capital. Often is mentioned that presence of social capital is key condition of success investment in human capital. The article presents opposite view – investments 
in human capital are necessary condition investments in social capital (at least in individual social capital). The three main form of social capital (bonding, bridging and linking social capital) are described at it is shown when generating each form can generate individuals profit and utility – in each case individuals must also invest in their human capital. Investments in human capital can also respond to the situation when investments in social capital become obsolete or devalue. 
>> Fulltext is available in Czech only <<

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 <<