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Change Leadership
5-21Views:23Today, researchers and practitioners also interested in the questions of successful leadership of
organizations as well as efficient and effective change management. In our paper, we combine
these two areas of research and in the form of a literature review examine what kind of leadership
style, role, behaviour is needed to successfully convert organizations through change processes.
We emphasise the behaviour aspects of change implementation. After defining the concepts that
are most relevant to our topic, we first collect models and research findings from the literature
on change management, which deal with how to lead changes, and then explore the approaches
associated with organizational changes from the leadership literature. Finally, we try to draw
conclusions that according to the research we have studied, what are the characteristics of
successful change leadership. -
Changes in family decision-making and division of labor among weekly families
148-165Views:69The study deals with the transformation of decisions and division of labor within the family by
processing the results of a qualitative, interviewed study of the target group of weekly workers.
The study shows how decisions are restructured according to roles within the family and how
the roles of women and men change as a result of the regular absence of one family member.
From the point of view of the approach to domestic work, the differences between weekdays and
weekends, which can be considered as a consequence of weekend, come to the fore. In the course
of the analysis, we examined whether there was a change in the decision-making processes
within the family as a result of the weekly (and if so, what areas were affected by the change)
and whether there was a radical change in the division of family responsibilities as a result of the
weekend. I present the results on the basis of two dimensions, on the one hand, of the phenomena
of disposition and decision-making over income, and, on the other hand, of the division of family
responsibilities and problem-solving. -
Processes of change in the Hungarian and Ukrainian Community in Izsnyéte, Transcarpathia
62-85Views:22I started my research in Izsnyéte, Transcarpathia, in 2012 with an anthropological research group. Initially, we were curious about the coexistence mechanisms of the local settlement, the cultural peculiarities of the ethnic groups living there, but due to the war situation, we had to stop our empirical research sooner before 2015. In 2017, as a doctoral student, I continued my empirical research in Izsnyéte, where Hungarians represent an absolute majority against the state-forming Ukrainian ethnic group. The basic research concept was to choose a local settlement close to the border where two or three different ethnicities have lived together for decades. In my study, I examine the process of ethnicity production and the processes of image and change of the living ethnicities of the settlement and their applicability to each other in comparison with the data of previous research, reflecting on the changes, mainly in the light of assimilation. Already the results of the 2012 research showed spatial isolation, in many cases dissimilation was experienced among coexisting ethnicities, but with many other factors and aspects several years later, it caused diverse processes.
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Planetary consciousness, biospherical governance, climatic rightfulness: Kim Stanley Robinson: The Ministry for the Future
13-28Views:60Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future was published in 2020. The novel is the sequel to the New York 2140 science fiction dystopian novel. The conceptual continuation presents a vision of unsustainable capitalism that functions via endless expansion. The Ministry for the Future brings into focus the outcome of externalities of capitalism: climate change and its effects on societies and individuals. The study emphasis on critique of capitalism, of mass production and mass consumption, at the same time it points at the techno-optimism in The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. The analysis of appearance of climate change in the novel is interdisciplinary, the study’s approach is scientific and empirical.
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Social policy model change in Hungary in the light of post-2010 governance
28-42Views:185Hungarian social policy underwent a major shift in emphasis following the change of government in 2010. The aim of this study is to examine the direction of these changes of emphasis compared to the models used by Esping-Andersen to typify welfare states. The analysis uses the classical criteria of the models and analyses changes in social policy principles, goals and instruments in five areas. In the areas of employment, family policy, tax policy, housing policy and crisis management, we would like to show that in Hungary we cannot currently speak of a purely conservative social policy model as declared by the government. The conclusion of our study is that the Hungarian system currently uses mixed elements, although the declared values are conservative and the authorities try to preserve conservative structures and actors, there is a significant shift in emphasis in social policy, and the mixed model shows strong liberal elements.
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The characteristics of social contact intensity, contact frequency and contact structure in Hungary in 2006 and 2015
102-138Views:36The study aims at comparing the Hungarian results of the questions on the frequency of personal and distance contact with relatives and friends in the 2006 and 2015 ad hoc modules of EU-SILC. According to our results, in line with the findings of previous Hungarian research, compared to 2006, there were fewer contacts in Hungary in 2015. Relations with friends, especially those held in person, were less exposed to weakening compared to relations with relatives. Among the different social groups, the already disadvantaged were typically negatively affected by either the change in intensity or the structure of relationships. However, the situation of the elderly and the inhabitants of deprived households deteriorated in all three dimensions examined: their relations weakened more strongly, and those related to relatives and personal ones further narrowed by 2015. This result indicates that the social disintegration of these groups has accelerated particularly between the two years, which poses a serious social policy challenge.
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The Civis and the In-migrants: Spatial Patterns of Industrial Modernization in Debrecen 1870
186-241Views:47Scholars engaged in research into the history of Debrecen have long been eager to get an
answer – beyond their specific research inquiries – to the question whether the development of
the city had had unique features and if they had what would hallmark the unique character of
development? Was there or is there a kind of “Debrecenness”?
My study examines – with the help of a GIS relational database (DTTTA1870) – what
peculiarities can be grasped in the transformation of the traditional spatial and social structure
of Debrecen enforced by the political change and industrial modernization processes two
decades after the change of feudal regime (1848/49).
The analysis focuses on whether the alteration process of the factors determining the social
status (residential segregation, neighborhood, spatial segregation and coexistence, other spatial
and social hierarchical characteristics) in the cases of the “deep-rooted Debrecen residents”
(cívis) and of the settlers showed specific types described in the literature or showed specific
features. -
The characteristics of employers' (and employees') behaviour in a rural border area today, based on interviews
162-180Views:30Clichéd as it may seem, it is undeniably true that the employment situation in Hungary is bad. The profound transformation of the economy and society in 1989-1990 brought about fundamental changes in the labour market. The main features of this were the disappearance of full employment and the emergence and persistence of unemployment. The economic activity of the Hungarian population declined significantly, due to, among other things, the disappearance or restructuring of enterprises and cooperatives, the fall in production and turnover, and the more intensive use of labour under new conditions, while the number of economically inactive increased.
To avoid unemployment, people opted en masse for pensions or pension-like benefits, while young people stayed in school longer in the hope of better job prospects and, even with a much lower birth rate, the number of people still using home-based forms of childcare was essentially the same as before. After 1998, the number of inactive people fell slightly, but in 2009 the number of 15-64 year olds was still 2.6 million, about 7% (166,000) higher than in 1992. Employment fell significantly in the years following the change of regime, mainly as a result of the transformation of the economy. It reached its lowest point in 1996, when some 3.6 million people were in work, 1.3 million fewer than in the period of regime change.
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Linguistic Landscape of Turistical Attractions in Transcarpathia
91-118Views:22The change of the linguistic landscape is a sore spot for the minority population that can be
driven out of the virtual language use. Linguistic landscape is not only indicative of the language
vitality of an area or region’s population, but can also reflect the real language ethnicity.
Extralinguistic factors are as important as the two basic functions of linguistic texts and
the models explaining the elements of the linguistic landscape. Such a factor is a small area
or region’s economic, in our case touristic development. The increased tourist demand of the
majority brings about numerous phenomena that are of significant influence on the linguistic
landscape of the minorities’ territory. This research is aimed at revealing the influence a local
economic investment makes (can make) on the formation of the territory’s linguistic landscape.
I would like to show the changes in the linguistic landscape recorded by Hodinka Antal Research Centre in its photo database of 2011–2012, February and September of 2016, as well as of 2017 on the
basis of my observations and photographs. -
Interpersonal relationships in Hungary – an overview
72-93.Views:29Our paper aims to demonstrate that social structure has significant impact on the formation of
interpersonal relations. We review and analyse the characteristics of ego-centric interpersonal
networks of Hungarians based on data from nationally representative adult population surveys
between the mid-1980’s up to 2015. We focus especially on core discussion networks, friendship
ties and weak ties and analyse how the transition to market economy influenced interpersonal
relationships. As expected, the large-scale social changes brought about by the transition
changed interpersonal networks as well. During the first decade of the transition (in the 1990’s)
one could not witness a significant change of personal networks, nonetheless the adaptation
process was easier for people supported by strong, traditional family ties. Non-kin ties, especially
friendships seem to gain significance at the expense of kin relationships. Overall, resources
available through weak ties seem to be decreasing. -
The Earning and cash management characteristics of the roma communities living on the margins of society in Budapest
110-128Views:37In this essay, I aim to explore the income and cash management characteristics of the roma
communities living on the margins of society in Budapest. In my research, my main focus was the
way people are living in the segregated streets of “Magdolna district” reacted to the declining
opportunities after the economical system change. Another question to be answered is what
strategies these families and households use to provide the sufficient amount of income, and if
there is any kind of economical or ’life-management’ community function between them beyond
the segregation.
After reviewing the job opportunities, I concentrated on the characteristics of the consumption
structure. I interviewed them about their costs of living as well as the possible ways of reducing
their expences. I also tried to examine how the cooperation of extended families effect the
everyday life of the smaller parts of these families. -
The political representation of Hungary’s ethnic minorities in the context of voter turnouts in the local self-governmental elections and in the parliamentary elections
25-39Views:25The political representation of minorities within a nation-state is a task that has always posed a great challenge to countries with substantial ethnic minorities, since both the hardships of establishing an adequate legislative environment, both the sensitivity of the subject make it exceedingly difficult for the legislator to develop a sufficient system. The issue of the proper representation of those 13 recognised minorities that are considered constituent components ofthe state were part of Hungary’s political history since the regime change, and for a rather long period of time it seemed that the adequate solution for their political representation was the local governmental system of ethnic minorities. Since 2011 however, the electoral system makes it possible for ethnic minorities to be represented within the Hungarian Parliament as well, which raises the question of whether this will shift the attention of the affected minority groups from the local self-governments towards the parliamentary representation. In this paper, after reviewing the changes within the legislative environment and – in close connection with that – the problems surrounding the issue of political representation of ethnic minorities, I will attempt to answer this emerging question through a brief analyses based on the turnout-data regarding the 2014 and the 2019 elections local governmental elections.
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Hopes and concerns of democratization: Ideas about popular vote in Hungarian political discourse 1985–1989
5-27Views:68The article analyzes the political discourse concerning direct democracy between 1985–89, when the issue of introducing popular vote at local and national level became relevant, both as a general institutional reform of political decision-making, and as the result of some major initiatives launched by social movements. The analysis covers the related law journal articles, party-state documents, the writings of political and intellectual elites (including the opposition), and the wider public (mainly daily and weekly newspapers). The discourse analysis is based on the academic literature of direct democracy and some new aspects, like the timing of introducing direct democracy, its role and perspectives, the consideration of threats and benefits, and the relevance of international examples as possible models for reform. The paper finds that the opposition and the party-state regarded the introduction of popular vote differently: while the emerging opposition emphasised the function of controling the state power by popular votes, the party-state expected to stop shrinking its social legitimacy. Meanwhile, general public seemed to be indifferent about this remarkable democratic reform.
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The place and role of field studies in teaching medical sociology
44-55Views:43Introduction: The goals of the subject of Medical sociology are to familiarize and explain the relationships between social environment and health. The theoretical and practical elements of the medical sociology education and the field studies that form a part of practical work serve these goals. During filed studies, we build on the previous knowledge and experience of the
students. Method: The themes of the field studies change from semester to semester. From the series of studies we picked three themes that were connected to and built on each other. We present the role of field studies through their description and the explanation of our experiences. Results: Field studies add empirical skills and experience to the knowledge acquired during the
theoretical and practical training of medical sociology. The field study assignments also serve to strengthen the effects of the “hidden curriculum”, the process of the indirect professional socialization at the medical school. Furthermore, the new knowledge and skills give the students a better understanding of the scientific literature helping them in the interpretation of statistical
and methodological aspects of biomedical results and concepts. Conclusion: Our experiences show that field studies are an efficient teaching method. Its most important outcome is sensitizing medical students towards health related social problems and helping them to understand and handle such problems. -
Enforcement of Community Approaches in Child Protection Practice: International Trends
70-86Views:35Child protection has changed in important ways on international level in recent years. Child protection as social institution adapts to and follows social change. Global competitions, mobility
of capital and workforce, acceleration of economic processes and interdependence of national
economies, and the economic crises of 2007 has their impact on the operation and workings of
welfare systems. This study examines the trends and tendencies in international child protection practice since the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, what type of child protection
orientations can be distinguished, what kind of characteristics can be described and which way
seems to emerge—as a common challenge—in general in the field of the state’s child protection
activities. The study draws attention to the importance of some topics in international discourse, such as complex needs of the clients, importance of partnerships, support of parenthood and a
range of professional skills and competences to achieve these goals. -
Labour law and insurance from patriarchy to the beginning of nationalisation
279-282Views:18If the reader picks up Zsombor Bódy's The Society of Industrial Labour, the title page will probably lead him to a long discussion of the new problems and tasks caused by industrialisation, and the structure and situation of social relations that it changed.
However, reading the first pages, we understand that Bódy, touching on the deeper social context, selects only a slice of the complex problems of industrial society of the time, the development and change of the institutional system related to work from the mid-19th century to the end of the Second World War. The author, who has extensively processed relevant volumes of international and national literature and numerous archival and printed sources, has synthesised his findings in this volume after several smaller studies. The work contains a number of new approaches and new problem definitions, which I would like to reflect on below. From the book we can learn about the views and plans of the time in relation to labour, the provisions that were born, from the patriarchal view to the beginning of the era of nationalisation. A great advantage of the work is that it analyses at length the prevailing social policy ideas of each period, contrasting the different views. It deals not only with governmental ideas, but also with the views of the opposition, the interest groups and, last but not least, the experts and their associations of the time. It examines the power of each organisation in each era and the influence it could exert on decision-makers, achieving different results, even against other groups. All of this is to the advantage of the essay, and the author perhaps sometimes over-details the battles between different views. -
Alternatives of how to prepare for the future labor market
146-160Views:42What happens if among the members of a society and among the smaller and larger units and groups making up the society trust and confidence seems to be disappearing at once? What happens if confidence reposed into each other fall victim to social differences as well as to the economic / cost-of-living boxing of modern information society? How to stop the crisis symptom that seems to be developing this way and which is shown in the fragmentation of communities?1 With other words, is it possible to “stick again together” a community or even a whole society started to disintegrate? The questions, even if not so characteristically phrased, provide sociologists actually with the scope of understanding our modern, individualistic world (Habermas 1994). Gusfield (1975) depicts dichotomy of community and society in a way that we should interpret community as a pervading, significant contrast. By now literature seems as if it was only be able to picture the changes taking place in the images both of the society and community describing them by even more pronounced, contradictory processes. The changes that send messages on the disintegration of categories and frames becoming insecure instead of the security and integration quasi missed by Habermas. It also seems as if—quasi as an answer given to this process—occlusion/seclusion both on the part of community members and the various communities from the seemingly unknown and insecure changes were more intensive (Légmán 2012). We intend to construe these phenomena on the next pages, but due to extension limits without the need for completeness of social interpretations. We want to do it with the help of mainly one dimension: value preference through the example of a given society, namely the Hungarian one. Thus we get to the stability and the solidarity of the members of the smallest unit of society, one which accepts and expresses various value preferences, the family.
From time immemorial, one of the crucial questions of mankind has been what the future has in store for us. The future, however, has remained unfathomable up to this day, and even future studies promises only as much as prognosticating what is likely to continue and what will plausibly change in the world. Thus, no wonder, that already the first “real” economists of the 18th century (Adam Smith et al.) considered the creation of the future model of labor economy as a challenge. At the present era of modern labor market, this task is closely connected with the future status of labor market since in a consumer society income acquired by work forms the basis of satisfying needs (Ehrenberg – Smith 2003, Galasi 1994).We are not saying anything new by stating the fact that the demand for labor force is determined by new places of work and that an ideal supply of labor force must be adaptable to the requirements of demand. To meet requirements and to be adaptable is possible only if we are armed with the necessary competencies and capital (Hodges – Burchell 2003, Bourdieu 1998). The question, to what extent students in higher education are prepared for changes in the demand for labor force, arises at this point. What can young people expect on the labor market in this ever changing world? What kind of job opportunities and work conditions are there for them, and how much are they prepared to face these changes?
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Reconfiguration in Post Euromaidan symbolic landscape: comparison of Kyiv and Transcarpathia
142-164Views:20The relation between power and public space has been one of the main interest of geographical
research in the last decades (Massey 1994, Mitchell 2003). Researches have illustrated that
following a regime change, the symbolic space of the city – compiled of street names, statues
and monuments – usually gets reconfigured. Following the Euromaidan, in 2015, the laws on
decommunization were accepted in Ukraine, which disposed more comprehensibly than ever before the banishment of Communist symbols from the public space. The decommunization
besides toponymy, entangled other elements of public space resulting in major shifts the urban
landscape as well.
Main interest of present paper is to study the major shifts in symbolic landscape in the capital,
Kyiv and compare it to the processes that have taken place in the westernmost periphery of the
country, Transcarpathia. Based on the examples of Uzhhorod, Berehove raion and Berehove, our
further aim is to shed light on the role of locality and how local memory is represented in public
space. -
The 2022 Italian election under the microscope
53-72Views:70The 2022 parliamentary elections marked a turning point for the Italian political system in many ways. As a result of the measures approved and introduced over the past almost ten years to change the electoral system (electoral reforms, decisions of the Constitutional Court, constitutional amendments, parliamentary reforms, etc.), Italian voters had the opportunity to elect the new members of both chambers of the parliament under the same electoral system, for the first time in the Republican era. The purpose of the article is to present the steps leading to this historic moment by analysing in detail the different measures affecting the electoral system and their impact. The paper then describes the electoral results and explains the processes leading to the vast victory of Italy’s first female Prime Minister, with a particular focus on the return to the bipolar logic favoured by the electoral system following the release of the three-pole system in 2013.
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What is Alpha Generation?
20-30Views:82According to Mannheim (Mannheim 1969), age group can be considered as a generation if it is
characterized by a common immanent property, generational consciousness, community status,
and three conditions are required: a common experience; actual peer-to-peer orientation and
common situational interpretation, attitudes, forms of action (Mannheim 1969). Based on this
model Strauss and Howe (Strauss – Howe 1991), states, that a generational change happens
in around 15-20 years. Based on the relationship with the information society, the X, Y and Z
generations are interpreted, but the concept of Alpha generation is also defined. Our article
describes the story of the Alpha generation, the content attributed to the generation, and tries to
answer the question: can this concept be interpreted in the paradigm of the generation of ages? -
Seven years with Orion: A háromrészes Orion-kutatásról
146-154Views:20The collection managed by the Voices of the 20th Century Archive and Research Group offers unique opportunities for social researchers. Due to the nature of the march of time, a seemingly endless series of one-time, unrepeatable and irreclaimable moments awaits the masses of researchers so that they take the old research with a new approach and a fresh perspective. The collection does not only provide a chance to quote and refer to the research materials that have remained from the 20th century. We can plan to re-analyze or even to continue or repeat them. Researchers maneuvering through the restrictions of state socialism have left us a legacy that deserves special attention. I believe that these researchers deserve attention looking back even from the 21st century, and that their research should form the basis of today’s research. As a result of the change of regime, social environment and everyday life have changed significantly. Countless aspects of the transformation affecting the whole of people’s lifestyle have remained unexplored to this day, although studying and processing them would be urgently needed. The Orion research, commissioned by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and led by Judit H. Sas, is one of the treasures of the archive which offers sources for researchers dedicated to the field of the life of workers. In my study, I give an account of my most important personal practical experiences, from the sorting and digitization of original source materials written by typewriter to the partial repetition of research.
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Peer-group ties and a prison sentence: a chance to enhance successful re-entry
52-82Views:44Interpersonal relationships of prisoners are of key importance from the aspect of their reintegration. We focus our attention on non-kin, primarily friendship ties on a sample of young Hungarian males convicted for the first time, for a relatively short period of up to 3 years. In our longitudinal qualitative research, 80 offenders from eight penal institutions were interviewed while serving their sentence and 31 of them could also be reached 6 months after they left the prison. We analyse what significance prisoners attribute to their friendship ties, how these change during the prison sentence, which factors influence their sustainment or dissolution, weakening or strengthening.
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Electoral Systems in East Central Europe
26-50Views:28The democratic transition in Eastern and Central Europe provides a good opportunity to
examine how to apply the findings of the science of elections in a new dimension. This study
based on 167 elections in 23 countries shows the formation, evolution and political consequences
of the new electoral systems. The hypothesis of the paper is that the elections and electoral
systems in this region not always correspond to the conventional wisdom. Our analysis divides
into five parts the region (Central Europe, Western and Eastern Balkans, Baltic States and the
other former republics of Soviet Union). This division helps to get an sophisticatad picture about
the emergence and changes of the new electoral systems. By showing country by country we can
demonstrate the similarities and differences between and within subgroups as well. Finally
using three well-known indices (least square index, effective electoral and parliamentary
number of parties) the study summarizes – country by country and subgroups by subgroups by
type – the political consequences for the proportionality and party structure. The analysis of the
167 elections demonstrates that Eastern and Central Europe does not show uniformity regarding
the political consequences of the electoral systems. Their influence is more moderate than in the
established democracies and they are also much more volatile. Their changes have shown rather
diverging than converging trend in the last quarter century. The conventional findings are
difficult to apply for this region, they are only partially valid, especially the formation of party
structure differ from the previous experiences. In sum the Eastern and Central European elections
do not invalidate the conventional statements of the elctoral studies but they offen do not show
corresponding image. So they significantly contribute to the further development and refinement
of the previous findings. -
Training and employment: Information and knowledge flows between training institutions and employers
31-48Views:31For a region's economy to develop, it is essential to develop integrated forms of operation that manage the available resources efficiently. This is particularly true in a border micro-region with a predominantly small population, where for decades farming has been essentially based on agricultural subsistence and employment opportunities have been limited. Matching the employment and training structure, balancing supply and demand in the training and employment system can also be beneficial for the economic and social development of a disadvantaged micro-region. The development of border micro-regions was seriously handicapped before the change of regime. Small and medium-sized settlements on both sides of the border were depopulated and their inhabitants were ageing. Over the past few years, regional development has been based on local needs and existing resources, resulting in the creation of nearly 2 500 small and medium-sized enterprises in 21 municipalities in the Érmellék sub-region, where the research is located. However, the economic and employment functions of the organisations created can only be developed if the specialist needs of the businesses are met in the right quantity and quality structure.
