Search
Search Results
-
The Situation of Adult Education in Seclerland: Summary of professional analyzes from the decades following the regime change
93-108Views:36The study uses previous analysis and research reports to review the evolution of adult education.
It presents the national and regional contexts, after that engages in the detailed presentation
of adult education – structures, conditions, practices and functioninig – in Harghita county.
One of the conclusions from the review of previous analysis and research reports is that the
basic practices of adult education evolved during the first two decades of transition are still
very dominant in today’s functioning of adult education. The possible current chances of adult
education are not yet exploited neither in regional policy planning nor in regional development
practice. There are further research and development tasks and opportunities in adult education. -
The Rethinking the public in Higher Education: Communitarian Engagement vs. Service-Based dependency
79-108Views:74There has been structural change in higher education due to the impact of institutions built or maintained in private public partnership. The aim of the paper is to give a deep insight into how these institutions could accomodate or shape the public higher education sector’s discouses, spaces, procedures. The research used mixed method to approach this complex question from a multidisciplinary perspective (sociology, education). Within this framework two residential halls were chosen and 17 interviews were carreid out with all relevant figure of the management. Due to the analytical tools of Maxqda 12 the qualitative results will be presented giving an insight into the differing discourses and practices of the public vs. private-public management. Based on the analysis of the managerial interviews it is safe to state that the public management struggles to balance a communitarian, democratic discourse and objectives with the requirements of efficiency and accountability. The presence of private-public management unintendedly shapes its public counterpart. The institutional analysis revealed that due to the swiftly changing institutional and policy environment residential halls are forced to be efficient leading to difficulties in managerial legitimacy and questions concepts such as community, conformity, commitment and action. Under the circumstances of increasingly growing institutional service-based dependency and control, academic consumers, institutions and students alike, paradoxically avoid integrating into macro groups. As a consequence, the institution encourage and educate student into a particular type of citizenship based on communication and consumerism rather than consensus.
-
The Changes in political participation among Hungarian youth
25-41Views:51Citizens’ political participation is a key issue of a democratic political system. The starting point of the paper is political participation of young people in democratic institutions is not merely a question of young people’s interest in politics, but also the result of institutional opportunities and mobilization channels that are available for them. The present article aims to interpret the political participation of Hungarian youth is interpreted more broadly than in former studies. On the one hand it shows how a change of attitudes occurred among Hungarian youth concerning the perception of political participation perception. On the other hand it describes the institutional and social context where participation of Hungarian young people is taking place today.
-
The 2019 local elections in Szeged
52-66Views:46The 2019 local, municipal election outclasses the second-order elections in the given political constellation. This is especially true in the case of Szeged, where the opposition – unlike the situation at the national level – has the power for a long time. To change this situation, the governing parties, taking advantage of their dominant position – and using all means – conducted a very vigorous campaign, changing the city into a battlefield. According to the results, the governemt’s attempt was not successfull, it was rather contraproductive. The reigning mayor and city management won an unprecedented victory. The root cause of it is a special urban policy which extracted the local politics from the partyfights and overrode party interests, and which represented the interests of the city succesfully and with credibility even against cross-wind. Based on the cooperation of the entire opposition the implemented urban policy is symbolized by and embodied in the person of the mayor in office since 2002.
-
Labor migration in Szeklerland: Migration and development, decision-making
17-31Views:51Migration for the purpose of employment is an important social phenomenon. The following
study provides insight into the situation of labor migration in Szeklerland after the change of
regime. It outlines the most important trends that define this social process from 1990 to the
present and indicates the changes along which the different periods of labor migration can be
separated. The study discusses the changing perceptions of the connection between migration
and development. The last subchapter contains an analysis about the phenomenon of decisionmaking in the context of new lifestyle trends resulting from migration. -
Interpersonal relationships in Hungary – an overview
72-93.Views:59Our 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:64In 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:45The 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.
-
Hopes and concerns of democratization: Ideas about popular vote in Hungarian political discourse 1985–1989
5-27Views:85The 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.
-
The place and role of field studies in teaching medical sociology
44-55Views:70Introduction: 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:71Child 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:42If 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.
