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Political science and the perception of time: Cyclical rotation between the present-centric and the historical perspective
94-130.Views:24In the first part of the two-part study the author posits that it is an exciting challenge for political
science to take stock of the scientific paradigms of the past 50 years based on their perspective
of time. The study looks at the past 50 years solely based upon the perception of time and
highlights the four paradigms deemed the most important: political development, transitology,
new historicism, and the school of American Political Development (APD). The study reviews the
authors representative of each paradigm and the most important elements of their arguments. Political scientists were susceptible to the historical perspective between the 1960s and the 80s. Later on, during the 90s until the mid-2000s the perspective for interpretation became
the present. In the last decade however, it seems that the interest in historical perspectives has
returned. The author concludes that a cyclical rotation can be demonstrated within political
science between the two perspectives, the logic of which would be advisable to study. -
Szeklerland – social science approaches
3-16Views:25The study reviews the situation of social science research in Szeklerland after 1989, describes the
institutional framework for the organization of research. Presents the most important features
of the Szekler society with a view to providing an interpretative context for the Cross-Sections
Social Science Journal. It also indicates the areas of analysis in which regional researches were
conducted, but could not be included in this study compilation. -
About the Understanding of Discursive Social Sciences and its Possible Aspects
93-107Views:30This article observes a paradigm shift occurred in several disciplines of social science which
also differs in theoretical and methodological aspects from science pursuing objectivity. The
interpretative social sciences primarily focus on the study of meaning and sets texts and talks
into the centre of understanding. Social facts are taking place in an intersubjective sphere,
namely among each other. In this paper they are consequently called ‘socially meaningful facts’.
Therefore, understanding and meaning of these socially meaningful facts can be study without
snapping social reality by means of different survey techniques, which would also necessarily
reduce the richness of social meanings.
In this paper the vote is given for the transition of discourse approach into a paradigm.
A couple of aspects are introduced in order to make an attempt to prove its scientific significance. On the other hand misunderstandings are also falsified. According to these misconceptions, a
text-based approach and an actual postmodern scientific scheme is nothing else than a literary
project, which also denies the pure existence of reality and only considers all previous knowledge
as relative. Instead of that, this paper states that every single fact of society has meaning which
is mediated through narratives by the language itself. -
New ways in exporting Society: The potential of donation.based digital data collection
6-26.Views:37More and more digital data is being generated every day, and more and more social science
analyses are using Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook data. Many international and national studies
have already explored the social science opportunities and dilemmas raised by the phenomenon
of ‚big data’ - but the issue of ‚access to data’ has only been touched upon tangentially. And
access to data is becoming increasingly difficult. What can we do if market players close the
access to their data, and, if we find data available, the Research Ethics Board tells us to stop? The
answer is simple: go to the users and ask them for the data. This approach is what the literature
calls data donation. This paper will describe the data donation approach in detail, focusing on
how researchers can access data through users on the current major Western platforms. The
practical feasibility of data donation access will be illustrated based on a domestic pilot study. -
On the margin of child protection: Negative life events impact on the adolescents and youth health behavior
80-108Views:107The paper studies how negative life events affect risk behaviour of children and young people. Calculations on the database of the ‘Hungarian youth 2012’ research suggest that negative life events are strong predictors of different types of risk behaviour like alcohol, drug abuse and suicide. According to the data people who have experienced several and more serious negative life events, more likely refuse and turn away from the norms of the adult society than those whose life proves to be less stressful. To place these results into child protection context, the study calls attention to the fact that the Hungarian child protection system does not treat each group in the fragmented society equally, although, on the basis of the incidence of threat it should. Another important message of this paper is to highlight that in addition to scientific values large-scale sociological research studies have professional and practical values as well. To support it, from the questions of the well-known Holmes-Rahe scale the authors re-developed an exploration scale (Reduced Life Events Scale). The application of the Reduced Life Event Scale (or the original Holmes-Rahe scale) allows experts to focus more on the studied issues in the process of planning services, prevention and case work. The tool might propose solutions to use the insufficient resources in a more targeted way.
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Utopia and Social Science – Interpretation of the book Fahrenheit 451
98-108Views:46Utopian and dystopian works have traditions hundreds of years, but their golden era did not begin until the 20th century. The genre is very often depicted as a literary genre, but in reality it is much more than simple fiction. These novels are as much social science and social theory writings as they are works of phantasmagoria. In my writing, I strive to explain this line of thought based on Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451. In the course of my work, following the fictional story of Guy Montag, I intend to present the peculiarities of the genre, its social science relations and its relationship with our contemporary society, in parallel with other dystopian works of the 20th century.
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Thomas Hobbes and the dilemmas of the natural state Second chapter: The tipology of the state of nature
3-22Views:40The primary purpose of this paper is to reflect upon four aspects of the Hobbesian state of nature. Firstly, the question is whether we can interpret this original state as a mythical, abstract,
imaginative and timless state, focusing only on the final conclusion of the Hobbesian theory, or
it may contain a well-defined timspan, having its own historical development based on a clear
logical construction. Secondly, this study aims at examining the natural character of man in
the state of nature, and his harmony with his environment in respect with their „naturalness”.
Thirdly, it tries to describe the assumed interpersonal relationships within the „primitve” state.
Fourthly, the paper presents different states of nature reasoned out from a close reading of the
text. All four aspect may help us to get a better understanding of the ambivalent character of the
Hobbesian state of nature. -
Debunking Myths about the American Presidential Elections of 2016 and Failures in the Social Sciences
51-61Views:24Throughout the campaign and following the elections of 2016, the two major political parties
cherished stories about what happened, and why it happened. Some of these stories have some
basis in fact, while others are completely mythical, and nevertheless believed. These stories, or
myths, arise from the political desires and belief systems of those who tell them. In what follows
we will examine these stories in the lights of the facts -
Az egyenlőtlenség apológiája
8-23Views:29A 19. század három nagy ideológiájának (liberalizmus, konzervativizmus, szocializmus) elemzése, az e témákkal kapcsolatos művek tanulmányozása mellett megköveteli annak a társadalmi kontextusnak a vizsgálatát is, amelybe ezek az eszmék beágyazódtak. Ezen túlmenően, a három ideológia egymásra hatását, kölcsönös hely- és helyzetváltoztatását is célszerű megvizsgálni annak érdekében, hogy jobban megérthessük fejlődésüket, változásaik okait, és nem utolsó sorban e három eszmeáramlat huszadik századi metamorfózisát.
Ami a liberalizmust illeti, a szabad és vállalkozó egyént központba állító, a piac teljes önállóságát és az állam minimális szerepét hirdető klasszikus liberalizmus fokozatos térvesztésével, a 19. század második felében egyre több gondolkodó értelmezte újra a liberalizmus eszmerendszerét Nagy-Britanniában is.
Az új, revizionista liberalizmus hívei1 nemcsak az állam növekvő szerepvállalását és bizonyos szférák államosítását2 szorgalmazták, hanem a társadalom egyre szélesebb rétegeinek a politikába való beleszólását, azaz a választójog kiszélesítését is.
A francia pro-szocialisták, majd Marxnak és híveinek tudományos szocializmusa jelentős hatást gyakorolt a szigetország gondolkodására, melynek következtében a század utolsó évtizedeiben ott is egyre jobban terjedtek a szocializmus különböző változatai. Ennek magyarázata elsősorban abban keresendő, hogy a konzervatívok túlzottan magabiztosak voltak, nem törekedtek saját hitük igazságtartalmának bizonyítására, azt magától értetődőnek vélték, s ez kedvező közeget teremtett a szocializmus térnyerése számára (Mallock 1882, 22).
Elérkezett azonban az a pillanat, amikor a rivális ideológiák ellenében a konzervativizmus hívei szükségesnek vélték sajátjuk védelmezését. Ennek egyik kiemelkedő képviselője William Hurrell Mallock3, aki úgy gondolta, hogy rendet kell teremteni a „széles körben érvényesülő szellemi erjedés és anarchia” világában, a „gondolkodás káoszában”. A káosz okát Mallock elsősorban a szocializmus tanainak terjedésében látta, és tudományos konzervativizmusával az angol konzervativizmusra legkomolyabb fenyegetést jelentő szocializmust támadta.
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The Career-building effect of volunteering in higher education
146-160Views:70Nowadays the motives for volunteering are changing among higher education students, and
besides traditional altruistic motives, career-building motives also appear (the acquisition
of work experience and professional knowledge, professional development, networking,
the presentation of voluntary work in the resume). In this paper, we use data from a survey
conducted in five Central and Eastern European countries (N=2,199) to examine through linear
regression analysis the factors affecting the strength of career-building motives and to analyse
through a logistic regression model the determinants of whether or not volunteering is related to the field of study. Our hypotheses are formulated based on the literature. Our results show
that career-building motives are more pronounced among women and students who have a
close relationship with external friends outside the university, study outside Hungary, and study
something other than engineering, computer science or science. Voluntary work is more likely to
be related to the field of study among teacher education students, students with an unfavourable
financial situation, those who study in Romania, and those who have a close relationship with
faculty. -
Women in science: The odyssey of the female scientists, from the Background to the „Procrustean bed”—The opaque mirror of the male correlate
129-157Views:17This study examines the social ideology regarding gender equalities, through outstanding women’s scholars, which is based on old traditions and customs. Among other things, I present the
main stages of the scientific career of Maria Michell, Marie Curie, Lise Meitner, Vera Rubin. I capture the subject within the theoretical framework of women’s studies, which is characterized by
many questions and debates, for example the biological or the cultural determinism (the nature
or education, religion, culture, socialization) have greater influence on gender roles. -
Does the corruption affect to the voters? – a Bayesian econometric analysis
25-66Views:23The study examines the agenda-setting aspirations of Hungarian political life between 2010
and 2016 from a corruption research perspective. Using the available data, we estimate, based
on the monthly data series of a six-year period, using different statistical methods, whether the
allocation of European Union funds used as a proxy for corruption had an impact on the support
of the ruling party. The results of the applied Bayesian vector autoregression do not provide
evidence for the hypothesis that the increase in corruption associated with the increase in EU
subsidies reduces the popularity of the ruling party among the entire voting population. -
Fenntartható fejlődés és szabadság
1-7Views:47... „Ha a szavakat nem használjuk helyesen, akkor nem azt mondjuk, amit szándékunk szerint közölni szeretnénk. Ha nem azt mondjuk, amit szándékunk szerint közölni szeretnénk, az elvégzendő elvégzetlen marad. S ha ez történik, erkölcs és művészet romlásnak indul; az igazság eltűnik. S amikor az igazság eltűnik, az embereken ... zavarodott tehetetlenség lesz úrrá ... emiatt tehát nem használhatjuk helytelenül a szavakat. Ez mindennél fontosabb”.
Confucius: Analects, Book XIII, Chapter 3, verses 4-7,Konfuciusz fenti gondolatait a társadalmi harmónia megőrzése érdekében ajánlotta saját kora döntéshozóinak figyelmébe. S habár azóta közel 2500 év telt el, mégis, meggyőződésem, hogy fenti mondatai ma ugyanúgy megszívlelendők, mint amikor annak idején tanítványai lejegyezték a mester szavait.
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Contributions to the Regulation of the Referendum after 2013
5-25Views:21The purpose of this paper is to define and show the nature and functions of the referendum in
general, and to examine the legislative regulation of its institution in Hungary after 2013.
The brief introduction will be followed by an analysis of some of the institutional and
instrumental features of the referendum in the context of the constitutional law. Special attention
will be paid to the question raised by, and to the pros and cons of the referendum held in 2016.
The legal aspects and social consequences of this invalid referendum will be emphasized. -
Thomas Hobbes and the dilemmas of the natural state: First chapter – The axiomatic nature of total war
3-24Views:56The purpose of this paper is to reflect on some the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, one of the founders
of modern political philosophy, best known for his masterpiece, Leviathan. The aim of this essay
is not to provide a full scale analysis of Hobbes’ main work, nor to present his moral or political
philosophy, nor to reflect on the significance of his impact on later political thinkers. The aim is
more modest, and the theme under scrutiny is more narrow: the paper is devoted to a critical
analysis of the main premise (state of the nature) of Hobbes’ theory of power, including the
ambivalent character of the state of nature, as well as the logical dilemmas that arise during
the analysis.After a general presentation of Hobbes’s philosophy and of the logical construction of his
work, I will tend to focus on two aspects of the state of nature: firstly, I will analyse the assumed
analogy between the state of nature and the Book of Genesis; secondly, I will examine whether
the „war of all against all” is an axiomatic outcome of the „primitive” state. It turns out, that the
answers for these questions are not so unanbiguous. -
The relationship between scientific philosophical theories and value research
131-147Views:81The purpose of this study is to examine, in what extent the mainstream approaches of scientific
theories can be applied on the field of the value-research. Therefore, I will examine these models
through the lense of scientific philosophical approaches of 20th century. Of the three most
significant philosophical theory (Popper’s falsification theory, Kuhn’s paradigm theory, and Imre
Lakatos’s theory of scientific research programs), I apply Lakatos’s theory, since it fits the best
to explain, how parallel research streams emerged on the field of value research. In this study I
strive for conciliate Lakatos’s program and the three significant value models. In the scientific
research program theory Lakatos found that many research programs coexist simultaneously.
Each has a hard core or negative heuristic (as Lakatos calls it) of theories immune to any revision
surrounded by a protective belt or positive heuristic of malleable theories. Every research
program vies against others to be most progressive. In my opinion the core of the program is
the value definition itself, which is used by the different researchers in the field of value studies.
This value definition barely changed during the past few decades. On the other hand, there are
numerous value models aimed to assess people’s value system. These models can be considered
as the protective belt revolving around the hardcore definition. The aim of this paper is not to
emphasize Lakatos’ theory from the philosophical approaches of science, but to examine value
research through a philosophical eye. This approach also can ease the communication between
the value research by exploring the common core of them. -
A korporált szülőség értelmezése a hazai gyakorlatban
153-156Views:23Rácz Andrea: Gyermekvédelem mint fragmentált társadalmi intézmény.
Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó, Debrecen, 2016, p. 190. -
The Engelien biopsychosocial model: The content of the role of the physician grounded on a theory of science
98-123Views:32The first part of this work is an attempt to reconstruct the context of theory of science in relation
to which Engel works out his biopsychosocial model. Then, an explanation of the biopsychosocial
model is given. The third part explores the role content that can be derived from the Engelien
model. Finally, some remarks are made, by which the Engelien paradigm is placed – in some
respects – in explanatory context.
