The paper focuses on the topic of conceptualizing religion in Czech society today from the perspective of the Study of Religions. The paper further develops and assesses in theoretical terms the findings of descriptive content analysis published by Veronika Hásová and Jan Váně (2014), who identified and quantified the frequency of variables of religiosity applied by researchers in the Czech Republic. The characteristics applied most frequently are categorized as functional characteristics (religious affiliation, church attendance) and substantive characteristics (belief in diverse religious phenomena) of religiosity. Results and conclusions of the analysis of religiosity in the Czech Republic depend heavily on how the functional and substantive characteristics of religiosity are conceived and formulated. The functional characteristic of religious affiliation conceived in terms of church membership results in a low measure of religiosity and supports the conclusion concerning the purported irrelevance of religions and religious identities in the Czech society today. Other surveys based on different conceptualizations of religious identities reveal the relevance of religion as far as the attitudes and values of respondents are concerned. Topics connected to religions and religious identities continue to be discussed within the public sphere of Czech society, e.g. through the media. As far as the substantive characteristics of belief in religious phenomena are concerned, the specification of the subject of such belief is of vital importance. As surveys of religiosity reveal, respondents relatively often declare their belief in or reliance on phenomena connected with alternative religiosity or spirituality. The ways of conceptualizing religion in Czech society today often ignore the dynamics of religious change in modern societies and do not take into account changes in the perceived content and functions of religious phenomena. Critical examination of the variables of religiosity leads towards a re-examination of conclusions concerning the purported irreligious or secular nature of Czech society today
"My state ceased to exi so quickly..." The role and importance of the GDR in biographical narratives by East Germans: the conflict of memory and the "declien of identity" 1989-2009.
In this article, a comparison is made between economic and identity explanations of preferences toward EU membership in the Czech Republic. This research demonstrates that economics rather than identity is a more powerful explanation of public opinion on accession. With regard to economic explanations of public support for integration three models are examined - a winners and losers model, an international trade liberalisation model, and a foreign direct investment model. A comparison of these three models shows that support for accession was primarily based on attitudes toward foreign direct investment. Moreover, contemplating employment opportunities within the EU following accession was also an important factor. Contrary to previous research the empirical evidence presented in this article suggests that being a winner or loser in the post-communist transition process was not the strongest factor explaining popular support for membership. The results presented should not be taken to imply that instrumental rather than ideological or affect-based motivations determine general attitudes toward integration. On the specific question of vote choice in the accession referendum instrumental economic considerations were most important.
The present text maps the actual situation of the participants of the controlled resettlement from the former Soviet Union to the Czech Republic in the years 1992–1993. Better to say, it maps the situation of a group of these settlers who at present live in the village Milovice, in the revitalized former military domain in the south-eastern part of the region Střední Čechy (Central Bohemia). The aim of the research was to analyze how the settlers perceive their reception from part of the majorite society, to study their adaptive strategies and to find out if the resettlement to the Czech Republic and the choice of the mentioned locality fulfilled their wishes and to what degree. The final part of the article summarizes what the settlers see as positive and what as negative aspects of the resettlement. The text is based on repeated directed interviews and observations realized in Milovice in the years 2008–2009.
Článok poukazuje na často nereflektované nedostatky diagnostických nástrojov používaných pri štúdiu gendrovej identity. Pozornosť je venovaná predovšetkým vzniku a konštrukčným obmedzeniam najrozšírenejšieho nástroja používaného pre tento účel - Bem Sex Role Inventory. Jeho využitie je založené na eoretických predpokladoch, ktoré nikdy neboli úspešne empiricky overené. Hoci jeho kritika bola v tomto duchu formulovaná už pred 30 rokmi, dodnes sa táto nevalidná technika používa v rade aktuálnych výskumov. V druhej časti článku sú predstavené alternatívne techniky merania gendrovej identity založené na diskriminačnej analýze a teste implicitných asociácií., The paper highlights the often not reflected weaknesses of diagnostic tools used in the study of masculinity and feminity. Attention is paid mainly to structural limitations of the tool most widely used for this purpose - Bem Sex Role Inventory. Its use is based on theoretical assumptions that have never been successfully empirically verified. Although criticism of Bem Sex Role Inventory has been formulated more than 30 years ago, this technique is still used in a number of recent studies. In the second part alternative measurement techniques are presented. These are based on discriminant analysis and the implicit association test., Marek Vranka., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
This article analyses the processes of creating the township on the example of Borne Sulinowo, one of the youngest cities in Poland. The collapse of the communism in the Centre and Eastern Europe caused, that Poland had made efforts for the revitalization of areas occupied by Soviet armies. Borne Sulinowo, a small city located in the north-western Poland, suffered the same fate as desolation of its areas after the departure of the Soviet Army and anew settlement by the civil settlers. Issues brought up in the article are focusing on problems of the adaptation of the settlers to the new cultural environment, on shaping local bonds and on the degree of the identification with the new place of residence.
The present paper aims to map the history, development, and present state of the Czech colony named Gorna Oryahovitsa and to place the particular case of this community's sugar factory within the broader context of Czech migration to Bulgaria. Specifically, it summarizes certain findings from field research in Bulgaria (2016). These are supplemented by information from archive materials and literature. The field research was mainly focused on establishing contacts and interviewing local residents, seeking and collecting archive materials, and mapping and documenting this locality. and Cílem tohoto textu je zmapovat historii, osud ale i současný stav české kolonie, a zasadit konkrétní případ cukrovaru v Gorné Orjachovici do širšího kontextu migrace Čechů do Bulharska. Předkládaný příspěvek shrnuje některé poznatky z terénního výzkumu v Bulharsku (2016). Ty jsou doplněny informacemi z archivních materiálů a literatury. Terénní výzkum byl zaměřen zejména na navazování kontaktů a rozhovory s místními obyvateli, vyhledávání a sběr archivních materiálů, mapování a dokumentaci dané lokality.