Journal Our Society Archive

The article deals with developments of the Internet elections project in Norway. The project for the time being peaked with the 2011 municipal and regional elections, in which voters in ten municipalities were entitled to cast their votes over the Internet. The article firstly analyses Internet elections pilot projects and discusses results of surveys focused on key preconditions of the Internet elections within the framework of the digital divide concept. Furthermore, the article is concerned with results of the Internet elections in terms of several key variables: ratio of those, who cast their vote over the Internet depending on their place of residence, party preferences and age. In spite of a high level of Internet penetration in Norway surveys and the Norwegian Internet elections have confirmed existence of two sub-types of digital divide: social divide and democratic divide.

The paper focuses on the union formation in later life using SHARELIFE data from 13 European countries. First, it shows that proportion of single individuals aged 50-69 and the proportion of those who (re)partner vary significantly across European countries. The highest levels of (re)partnering were observed in Scandinavia and the lowest in Southern and Central Europe. Second, it shows that women are much less likely to enter a new coresidential union than men in all studied countries but the relative difference between men and women vary. The smallest difference was observed in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic, the largest in Southern Europe, Austria, and Switzerland. Third, repartnered individuals tend to be younger, more educated, and more likely divorced than widowed comparing to those who stay single.

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 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.

This article deals with the analysis of public opinion in the non-European countries and with their view about the European Union. The study is not yet an analysis of foreign and trade policies of these countries, but it based on the opinions of their inhabitants. The citizens of these countries assessed the EU as "soft power" and as an economic superpower. Highly valued are the activities in the field of peaceful reconstruction of the former war regions, however, it is alleged that it uses few use its economical potential in resolving conflicts. However the Union is criticized for their protectionist policies in the import. Politically remains the union largely unimportant player in international relations.

The article of a mostly empirical character is drawn from archive data, from the sources of the Centre for Public Opinion Research, and from the first phase of the undertaking of a project of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic entitled "The Sociological Research of the Historical Consciousness of Inhabitants of the Czech Republic". The theoretical part of the text is based on the concept of collective memory, especially on the idea of the selectivity and changeability of contents saved in the memory. This article also presents quantitative data concerning the perspective held by public opinion on Czech history, and qualitative perspectives on historical consciousness attained through the use of focus groups.

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 <<