Journal Our Society Archive

Linek, Lukáš. 2013. „Rostoucí sociální nerovnosti ve volební účasti v Česku v letech 1990-2010." Naše společnost 11 (1): 3-14, http://dx.doi.org/10.13060/1214-438X.2013.11.1.1

The aim of this paper is to analyze the social and class inequalities in turnout in the Czech Republic between 1990 and 2010. Thus, the study focuses on a description of the evolution of the relationship between turnout and key characteristics of socio-economic status: education, income and social class. This research utilizes a pooled cross-sectional post-election survey dataset from the Czech Republic fielded over two decades; and employs standard statistical methods, i.e. contingency tables and convergence models, to analyze change in turnout among population subgroups. There are signs of a gradual crystallization of both social and class inequalities in electoral participation. Convergence models reveal a linear increase in educational and class inequalities in turnout. In the case of income, however, this study finds evidence of a crystallization of income based inequalities in participation rather than a growth in inequalities per se.

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 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 article deals with cross-border cooperation which has become since the 1990´s an indelible element of the regional development of the Czech borderland areas. The paper presents the results of a research focusing on the positions of the Czech inhabitants living on the borderland of the Czech Republic and the cross-border cooperation issues. The research carried out in 2008 by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) showed that the inhabitants of the Czech Republic perceive the image of the borderland areas not as negatively as can be seen from previous studies on the same topic.

This article deals with problems of religiosity research in sociology. First I concentrate on more general topics connected with religiosity research as is cross-country validity of survey instruments or relationship of theoretical concepts and empirical indicators in sociological surveys. Another part is about attending religious ceremonies which is one of the most significant (statistically as well as substantially) indicators in religiosity research.

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 article examines the relationship between voter turnout (or, precisely, turnout intention) and variables related to the perception of the election campaign in the broader context of the other types of variables such as basic socio-demographic or political characteristics. The data used in this analysis are from surveys conducted during the period of three month before elections in 2010. All of the surveys were designed as public opinion polls and approximately 1000 Czech adults were interviewed nationwide at the beginning of each month. To explain the relationship between voter turnout (or rather a kind of readiness to vote) and the perception of the campaign, the binary logistic regression was chosen and three models were created. In relation to voter turnout, in addition to basic socio-demographic characteristics, the variables related to the perception of the election campaign are statistically significant, too. In the extended model, however, it is showed that behind the effects of most of them stands the rate of interest in politics. The only variable, which draws on a basis other than the interest in politics, proved to be awareness and acceptance of campaign influence on own voting behaviour. The frequency of consumption of media content proved to be more important than age, education and living standards. However, again behind these variables stands the interest in politics. Therefore, the interest in politics appears to be essential in relation to voter turnout in our analysis.

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).