In this article the authors examine the forms and experiences of insecure and precarious work by Czech women caring for a child or a dependent family member. The results of a quantitative survey indicate that the share of caring women performing precarious work increased during the economic crisis. A secondary analysis of interviews conducted in 2006–2013 with women caring for a child or another family member offered insight into the forms precarious work can take and the ways women feel about this kind of work and why. It also demonstrated in what way, based on the capability approach, their explanations provide a better understanding of the nature and extent of precarious work among women with care responsibilities. We found that the ways caring women view ad-hoc work fit along a continuum, ranging from an optimal temporary strategy, to a temporary solution in the absence of other options, and finally to feelings of being caught in a precarious work trap. This continuum can be extrapolated into a kind of ‘collective story’: a woman first ‘chooses’ ad-hoc work as a temporary strategy to get a job; if her life conditions are difficult she must continue to perform such work against her preferences; after a long period of economic inactivity or of performing just temporary work, the woman is ultimately unable to find any secure form of employment, even if she is no longer restricted by care responsibilities – she ends up trapped in precarious work. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Sociology and sociological theory have been effective in analyzing societal and institutional conflict and violence, but less so in analyzing the specifics of interpersonal violence. This article examines the sociological significance of domestic violence. This relationship, or sometimes its neglect, is underlain by several tensions and paradoxes, which in turn have broader implications for sociology, sociological theory and social theory. These matters are examined through: the possible paradox of violence and intimacy in the phenomenon of domestic violence; the importance of the naming and framing of such violence; explanation, responsibility and agency; and gender, hegemony and discourse in men’s violence to known women, as part of a multi-faceted power approach., Jeff Hearn., and Obsahuje použitou literaturu
Based on qualitative research of women that cared in the past or care now for their frail elderly mothers, this article aims to describe and explain some of the factors leading to the predominance of women in informal care for the elderly. The article builds on Sandra Harding’s and Joan W. Scott’s concept of gender. Their concept defines gender as a category operating at multiple interconnected levels. Based on the analysis of interviews with biographical components, we show the impact of cultural and structural factors on women’s decisions to take care, and how these factors are gender structured. Among cultural factors we focus on the process of socialization; we analyse the effect of gender norms of care and the issue of cultural taboos in intimate care. Among structural factors we focus on paid work, the gender division of labour in the family and non/availability of formal care services. On the basis of caregivers’ stories we show how these factors coherently and simultaneously strengthen the connection between women and providing hands-on care. We also identify emerging disruptions in this gender-conservative model of informal care., Radka Dudová, Romana Volejníčková., and Obsahuje použitou literaturu
The aim of this article is to explain the role of educational and training programmes that represent both the key labour market policy tool increasing labour force employability and the lifelong learning policy tool contributing to the lifelong learning concept. On the basis of the exploration of wide range of related literature, statistics and research studies we describe existing types and goals of educational and training programmes which are used as key measures of public policy in different countries. At the same time we reflect the role of these programmes in current changing economic and social conditions and their link to the principles of flexicurity policy. and Markéta Horáková.
The article focuses on the relationship between space and sexuality, phenomena rarely studied together in the Czech social sciences. I use heteronormativity to describe the power polarization of largely socially constructed institutionalized relations between various sexualities. These polarizations are also inherently spatial, thus geographical phenomena. First, I focus on the discussion of various theoretical standpoints linked with foundations of heteronormativity. Secondly, I critically rethink the linear view of non-heterosexual identity development and discuss non-linear alternatives of ‘passing’ and sexual ‘closetedness’. I then incorporate this into the contextual model of sexual-identity negotiation. Thirdly, I use this model for understanding the spatial dynamics of heteronormativity and connected levels of non-heterosexuals’ comfort in particular spaces. Finally, by utilizing a rarely used visual methodology conducted on a sample of 1,589 Czech non-heterosexuals I focus on measuring the ‘perceived levels of heteronormativity’ in selected spaces. Results were translated into an ‘index of presumed spatial heteronormativity’ allowing for better understanding the everyday spatial negotiations of non-heterosexual identities., Michal Pitoňák., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This article examines the use of microblogging service Twitter during the period of the presidential election 2013 in the Czech Republic and aims to contribute to a development of an emerging research eld to which only a marginal interest of academics have been devoted so far, especially in the Czech Republic. A multi-method approach is used to analyze the dataset of tweets, which have contained prede ned hashtags within a course of four weeks period - including both, the rst and the second round of elections. The ndings indicate that the debate on Twitter “copies” events in mainstream media (mainly presidential TV debate), while linking to information sources in posts does not necessarily lead to the o - cial media sources. The analysis also reveals that tweets most often refer to Karel Schwarzenberg, in comparison with the names of other candidates, and that among the themes of tweets and retweets the most frequent topics are the campaign and political preferences which suggests the potential of Czech Twitter to form a basis of online political communication., Zuzana Karaščáková., and Obsahuje seznam pouzite literatury