Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3)

Articles

Are There Visible Accession Effects? Comparing Some Key Indicators of the Trajectories of Central and Eastern European Countries Inside and Outside the EU since the 1990s

Jens Alber, Anne Christine Holtmann, Susanne Marquardt

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 473-506 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.02

Comparing four groups of post-communist transition countries-those which became EU members, those with candidate status, and two groups which are considered mere partners with or without a future membership perspective-the authors examine to what extent there are visible accession effects. The basic assumption is that countries which were under the pressure of the Copenhagen criteria and under constant EU supervision should have developed more favourably than the others with respect to good governance, dynamic market economy growth, and public policies in line with the idea of a European social model. The empirical analysis seeks to clarify to what...

Exploiting the Potential of the Open Method of Coordination in Slovenian Education Policy

Damjan Lajh, Urška Štremfel

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 507-530 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.03

The open method of coordination (OMC) holds great potential to improve various (qualitative and quantitative) aspects of education policies in EU member states. Due to its soft/non-obligatory way of infl uencing policy, it is particularly interesting to investigate to what extent its potential is actually put to good use in member states and which factors determine whether member states actually achieve the Lisbon Strategy's goals. Bearing in mind the lack of empirical evidence for the OMC's infl uence on national education policies, and considering the theoretical assumptions of soft modes of governance, Europeanisation processes and policy learning,...

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Birth and Pregnancy Outcomes in the Czech Republic between 1990 and 2007: An Exploration of Trends

Martina Štípková, Martin Kreidl

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 531-564 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.04

This article explores the impact of the post-socialist transformation of Czech society on the health of newborns from different socioeconomic groups. The authors used six different measures of child health-various constructs based on birth weight, length of gestation, and vitality-as dependent variables and the mother's educational attainment as the key predictor. They used birth certificate data on all singleton births in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2007 (N=912 591). They estimated a series of random-intercept multi-level models and report the observed trends in health inequality by maternal education. The analysis consistently...

The Formation of Identity in Teenage Mall Microculture: A Case Study of Teenagers in Czech Malls

Jana Spilková, Lucie Radová

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 565-586 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.05

Geographies of children and youth are a surprisingly neglected research topic in the transforming (post-communist) countries, where many societal changes are taking place. This article introduces a research project that focused on teenagers and their leisure-time activities, concentrating especially on teenagers who spend the majority of their leisure time in shopping malls. The goal of the article is to reveal how such teenagers use the micro-space of the shopping mall, how they socialise, and how their social identities may be produced through different practices in the mall space. The study focused on teenagers aged 14-17 'hanging out' in shopping...

Essays in social theory

Crisis and Innovation of Liberal Democracy: Can Deliberation Be Institutionalised?

Claus Offe

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 447-472 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.01

The paper explores the possible contributions of deliberative procedures of political will formation to solving the problems encountered by liberal democracies today. To begin with, four functions of liberal democracy are distinguished: securing international peace, guaranteeing legal as well as political peace domestically, and producing good active citizens. The following part of the argument distinguishes four structural features characteristic of democratic regimes: stateness, rule of law, political competition, and accountability of the rulers. Thirdly, a brief summary of critical accounts concerning democracy's actual failures and symptoms of...

Jubilees

Jiří Večerník at 70

Stein Ringen

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 587-590

Book reviews

Gøsta Esping-Andersen: The Incomplete Revolution. Adapting to Women's New Roles

Nadia Steiber

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 591-592

Marta Kahancova: One Company, Diverse Workplaces: The Social Construction of Employment Practices in Western and Eastern Europe

Guglielmo Meardi

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 593-595

Barbara Einhorn: Citizenship in an Enlarging Europe. From Dream to Awakening

Susan Zimmermann

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 596-599

Lucia Tunkrova and Pavel Saradin (eds.): The Politics of EU Accession: Turkish Challenges and Central European Experiences

Anil Duman

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 600-602

Bent Greve (ed.): Choice: Challenges and Perspectives for the European Welfare States

Ricardo Rodrigues

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 603-606

Elly Teman: Birthing a Mother: The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self

Lucie Kalousova

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 607-609

Irena E. Kotowska, Anna Matysiak, Marta Styrc, Ariane Pailhé, Anne Solaz and Daniele Vignoli: Second European Quality of Life Survey: Family Life and Work

Věra Kuchařová

Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 610-612

Joerg Tremmel (ed.): A Young Generation Under Pressure? The Financial Situation and the 'Rush Hour' of the Cohorts 1970-1985 in a Generational Comparison