Previous research indicates that Czechs harbor considerable doubt about the honesty of their political and economic system. One response to this perceived dishonesty has been disengagement, to the extent possible, from their work and public life. Disengagement was, both before and after 1989, the potent weapon used by Czechs in their workplaces to covertly make their wishes known on the factory floor. This behavior has proven problematic for the managers of the „new" private enterprises in the country. The tension between management and workers has resulted in the creation of complex interactions which can begin to be understood through an analysis of transactions in social capital. To accomplish this, this paper will examine two relatively successful companies in the Southern Moravian city of Brno during the period preceding E.U. accession. Through field notes, interview and survey data gathered during more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper will accomplish three objectives. It will analyze the interplay in those companies of discourses of honesty with the twin goals of managerial legitimacy and worker engagement. It will document the process of negotiation which has resulted in the development of a new moral economy on the workfloor and the growth of powerful worker networks within the enterprise. Finally, it will present a theoretical framework to capture the process of social capital creation and expenditure which is the product of these processes.
The Czech spiritual market is today as developed as that of western European countries. De-traditionalised and individualised holistic milieu has created a demand for spiritual literature and magazines as well as other marketable goods (“magic” stones, amulets, horoscopes, natural drugs etc.). This paper attempts to analyse the character and sources of contemporary best selling spiritual literature and its readership in the Czech Republic. It also provides a case study of a Prague spiritual bookshop and its comparison with five other Czech spiritual outlets (including an Internet outlet). The results clearly show that marketing spirituality has become a mainstream phenomenon with regard to all gender, age and class categories, although there was found to be an over presence of older middle-aged women among the buyers. There is emphasized “churchless” and “nonreligious” character of the buyers and the best selling books, that include predominantly those referring to “modem” and “esoteric” western or “ethnic” spiritualities. The supply side comprises both special and general publishers, the former having been more successful in specialised bookshops and spirituál outlets and the latter in addressing the wider population (including via the Internet).
Dnešní podmínky na trhu vyžadují, aby vedoucí pracovníci neziskových organizací jednali stále více obchodním způsobem. Studie zjišťuje, zda vedoucí pracovníci neziskových organizací mají podobné dispozice k podnikatelskému jednání jako podnikatelé, ale jsou jinak motivováni. Při výzkumu byly pomocí standardních osobnostních testů a rozhovorů porovnány osobnostní rysy a vyjádřené motivy 72 vedoucích pracovníků neziskových organizací s 117 podnikateli. Obě skupiny vykazují podobné obecné a specificky podnikatelské osobnostní rysy, ale významně se liší, pokud jde o jejich motivaci. Zatímco motivace vedoucích pracovníků neziskových organizací pramení především ze smyslu jejich práce, podnikatelé jsou motivováni především nezávislostí a příjmem, které jim jejich práce poskytuje. Článek umožňuje lépe pochopit, kdo jsou vedoucí pracovníci neziskových organizací., Today's market conditions require nonprofit leaders to act in an increasingly business-like fashion. This study asks whether NPO leaders have a similar disposition to act entrepreneurially as for-profit entrepreneurs, but hold different underlying motives. For this purpose, the study contrasts a sample of 72 leaders of nonprofit organizations with 117 entrepreneurs on their personality traits and explicit motives using standard personality tests and interviews. Both groups exhibit similar general and entrepreneurship-specific personality traits but differ significantly regarding their motivation. While nonprofit leaders motivation stems primarily from the meaningfulness of their work; entrepreneurs are mainly motivated by the independence as well as by the income and profit provided by their work. This paper helps us understand who leaders of nonprofit organizations are., Martin Lukeš, Ute Stephan., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The article aims to identify the development phases in the process of the regional differentiation in the Czech Republic after 1989, and examines whether this differentiation trend is currently changing. The assumption the article's hypothesis is based on is that during recent development the basic 'parameters' of the principal features of the country's regional structure have been stabilized amidst the conditions of parliamentary democracy and a market economy. Unlike the first phases of socio-economic transition, when differentiating trends prevailed, a certain degree of stabilisation can now be assumed, alongside the emergence of new trends. The development of regional differences was analysed using indicators of GDP, the unemployment rate, entrepreneurial activity, and tax revenue from self-employed physical persons. The findings show that over the course of the 1990s regional differences intensified at both the mezo-regional (regional) level and the micro-regional level. It was also confirmed that at the turn of the millennium the phase of divergent regional development ended, and since that time regional differences have hovered around the same level.
Následující text prezentuje některé poznatky o občanské kultuře v České republice učiněné na základě speciálního šetření uskutečněného v srpnu 2009 jako součást mezinárodního komparativního výzkumu u příležitosti 50. výročí realizace původního výzkumu G. A. Almonda a S. Verby a následného vydání jejich známé knihy The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations. Kromě toho se s využitím dat z předchozích dlouhodobých kontinuálních výzkumů veřejného mínění pokouší o stručný nástin vývoje občanské kultury v českých zemích v průběhu uplynulých dvaceti let po pádu komunistického režimu v roce 1989., 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. Using data from continuous public opinion surveys the text also tries briefly to outline the development of civic culture in Czech countries during last two decades after fall of communist regime in 1989., and Jan Červenka.
This article addresses the question of how to be an activist in the dynamic postsocialist field of power by focusing on anti-corruption actors in two policy-mediating knowledge institutions with transnational ties in the Czech Republic. Drawing upon sixteen months of participant observation research and interviews, I argue that a new generation of civic activists has sought to carve a niche in the competitive field by crafting an authoritative professional image. They have accomplished this through the performance of new international codes of neoliberal professionalism to both a Czech and international/ western audience in order to gain social recognition. At the same time, however, they risk alienating (and being alienated from) their local counterparts and public if they appear too much the global de-nationalized professional. The discomfort with having to craft their sense of self between globalizing cultures of professionalism and local conditions is a core tension these actors experience in the context of broader changes in the building of civil society and democracy (in the international image), the postsocialist labor market, and the role of the intelligentsia. It demonstrates the limits to the accumulation of global cultural and symbolic capital.
The article is a continuation of the author’s paper given at the professional conference on historical collections in Olomouc in 2013, which was published in the proceedings of the conference, Bibliotheca Antiqua.1 The author has corrected and expanded some of the data on the life story of Count Pötting on the basis of information from Pötting’s handwritten Diary from 1664-1674 (Diario del conde de Pötting, embajador del Sacro Imperio en Madrid). She provides an overview of the books that are known to have formed part of Pötting’s book collection (26 manuscripts, mostly codices comprising more units, and 46 printed books from the 16th and 17th centuries have been recorded as yet)., Jaroslava Kašparová., and Článek je pokračováním příspěvku předneseného na konferenci k historickým fondům v Olomouci v roce 2013, jehož písemná podoba vyšla ve sborníku Bibliotheca Antiqua.
The article is based on the importance of the political culture in czech public opinion. Following the data obtained at Public Opinion Research Centre´s polls the author analyse how critical are czech citizens when talking about political culture of most of politically active people. The fi rst part of the article is devoted to the explanation of the concept of political culture and its use in sociological and politological theory., Markéta Škodová., and Seznam literartury
The article focuses on representatives of the regional (and most recently established) level of government in the Czech Republic. It describes the context behind the emergence of regional governments and how they differ from the local and national political levels. It notes the close personnel connection between local and regional political elites. Experience gained in local politics helps elites to succeed at the regional level. The presence of local politicians in regional government varies with the level of residential fragmentation and the degree of urbanisation in the given region. Unlike local politics, which is consistently comprised of a significant proportion of independents, regional representatives are almost exclusively members of political parties and movements. This situation on the one hand serves to increase the politicisation of local politics and on the other leads to greater competition within political parties, whose programmes and national leadership regional politicians wish to influence.
The article looks at the issue of Roma migration from Slovakia and places it in the context of European post-communist migration in the 1990s and migration from eastern to western Europe in the early 21st century. The article is based mainly on qualitative data that the author and his colleagues collected in the form of migration biographies. The author shows that unlike Roma migration from Bulgaria and Romania to western states, migration from the Czech Republic and Slovakia was a delayed occurrence and culminated eight to ten years after the migration from the Balkan states. However, migration between the Czech Republic and Slovakia was continuous, even after the break up of the Czechoslovak state. This form of migration has been a significant migration flow since 1945. It was initially a form of chain migration, with continuous flows that resulted in the creation of linked networks of relatives in both the source and target countries. The migration bridge that was formed as a result now serves a two-way flow of Roma short-term and long-term migration. The author demonstrates that the formation of migration bridges between Slovakia and western European countries within the European Union is similar in nature to the Roma migration from Slovakia to the Czech Republic after 1945. It is a continuous form of chain migration creating transnational bridges for two-way short-term and long-term migration based on family relationships. The author states that individual settlements in Slovakia choose different migration strategies and there are business activities that make migration from Slovakia easier. He notes that many Roma from Slovakia do not conceive migration from Slovakia as permanent migration. The majority of them continue to see their future in connection with their birthplace in Slovakia. It is only the generation of the children of current migrants who have begun to consider emigrating permanently out of Slovakia.