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From Sunday lunch to the ballot box: Political socialisation and political homophily in Hungarian society
8-36Views:151Political socialisation is the process of forming an individual’s political identity, in the course of which the individual’s attitude to politics and political worldview is formed. Political socialisation takes place in different spheres, of which the family and parents are of particular importance. Previous research in Hungary has confirmed that the family is an “incubator” of citizenship. However, there is little data available in Hungary that would allow for a more precise understanding of the transmission of political attitudes. This study investigates political homophily within the family (between parent and child) and the effects of parental political characteristics on the individual in Hungary. Our data are drawn from a nationally representative telephone survey of 2000 respondents sampled in 2023. The results show that in nearly two-thirds of Hungarian families, family members held the same political views during the respondent’s childhood, with the highest proportions of homophily indicators, fathers’ and respondents’ voting activity, and mothers’ and respondents’ conservative-liberal attitudes. The effect of parental characteristics was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). Parents’ political interests and ideological positions had a strong direct effect on the same child characteristics, but the individual’s political participation and party preference were only indirectly influenced by parents. The success of attitudinal transmission was strongly enhanced if the parents were themselves, homophiles, along with the trait in question. Our results point to the important role of the family as a primary agent in political socialisation and suggest new research directions.
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Closed institution inmates’ views about the family
138-153Views:14When researching the reasons for criminal behaviour, literature almost unequivocally emphasises the responsibility and role of the family, where as the number of studies analysing the functioning of families of inmates in closed institutions (reform schools, special children’s homes) is relatively low. The present pilot research (with the purpose of preparing a wider one) tries to fill this gap. Using semi-structured interviews, we attempted to explore the inmates’ family background, what methods were used during their upbringing, what they thought about the family and its role and importance in one’s life. Harassment had occurred in juvenile delinquents’ families in various forms: it had physical and emotional manifestations, and therefore its impact on the affected person’s personality is extremely complex. These young people did not/do not have a safe background, and thus they were more easily influenced to choose the wrong way; they did not have a real childhood, never had the experience of common games or hiking, and never felt an atmosphere of trust, love and security. It was apparent that in these young people’s families very little attention was paid to each family member’s personal sensitivity or opinion, and emotional ties were either missing or were strongly distorted. In such a family environment, the young people were unable to solve the crises of adolescence which are parts of normal development, the family did not ensure support in coping with the tension, and they were left alone with solving their problems. Consequently, it is not surprising that they had great difficulties in telling what the family meant to them and what ideas they had about their future family.
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The Career Concepts of Male Workers with or without Child
91-105Views:30The question of reconciliation of work and family is getting highlighted in social studies. For a
long time, a lot of studies concentrated on young mothers; however, researchers have realized
that this problem proves difficult to men as well. As Bencsik-Juhász write: ” As the actual labor
market primarily employs and caters for men, with all the inherent ad-vantages (like higher wages for the same job) and disadvantages (like longer working hours), it is no wonder that
the stronger labor-market presence and activity of women also changes the traditional family
roles”(Bencsik – Juhász 2012: 616). The public opinion has been starting to expect double sets of
obligations from the fathers, the traditional family supporter role is still strong, while men are
also expected today to take part in child-rearing. The question is whether these processes effect
on men’s career.
This study presents career perspectives of male workers with or without child. The authors
made a quantitative survey in order to get to know this question. Based on research conducted in
2016, it is possible to say that men with or without child are different in this question. -
Conflicts and democracy: Considerations on political conflicts and the need of their delimitation
8-24Views:35According to our common experience of political life, the relationship between politics and
conflicts seems to be obvious. However, it is also common to think about delimiting the intensity
of conflicts in a democratic context. This kind of complexity of the relation of democracy and
conflicts can be cexplained from two theoretical perspectives. First, in order to protect democratic
order, conflicts may lose their relevance in comparison to the value of consent or compromise. Second, even if we accept the importance of conflicts, we also should take into account the limits
of their intensity. These theoretical problems arise in the context of contemporary politics which
nature is eminently public and in which every announcement is open to discussion. This is what
discourse as a theoretical horizon means. The core concept for theorizing the conflictual character
of politics in a discursive manner is political debate. The article explores three kinds of debate
and communicative conflicts: John Stuart Mill, as a classical nineteenth century liberal, sheds
light on the importance of debate in issues of collective truth-seeking and emotional devotion
to our personal values. Márton Szabó, a leading theorist of political discourse in Hungary, also
treats debate as a core concept of political discourse studies, and theorizes debate not only as
a series of singular acts in the realm of politics, but as a mode of existence of politics itself.
Contrary to other contemporary ideas of communication and politics, discourse is therefore
inherently conflictual in its character. Similarly, but more embedded in contemporary debates
over democracy, Chantal Mouffe, one of the eminent theorists of agonism, interprets conflicts
in the context of democratic order, and emphasises the democratic conditions for constructing
democratic identities. Her ideas on agonistic democracy can fathom the relation of valuable
conflicts and their limits in a democratic regime. -
The Changes in political participation among Hungarian youth
25-41Views:29Citizens’ 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.
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„Women Question” in the Political Parties’ Discourse in Post-Revolution Tunisia (2011–2014)
127-145Views:41For more than fifty years, the Tunisian political system has been considered as a so-called secular system that had provided women with many rights in education, healthcare and in economic and political sectors, besides that woman friendly family laws reforms After the overthrown of Ben Ali regime on 14th of January 2011, the Tunisian society witnessed an economic, social and political significant transformation. A new Islamic-secular discourse have been raised debates both in public and private sphere, women’s rights have been one of the incendiary topics of these debates. Therefore, with the participation of the Islamists in political life, the country has faced a new political dynamic which made the pollical scene complex and ambiguous. In this context, discourse analysis is a very important and crucial to be used as a method to approach to the research main question. Some leaders’ speeches, events which took place during the democratic transition are examined and analyzed in order to serve the research’s analytic interest through the relevant materials.
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How do the Spanish families face to crisis? The types and consequences of coping strategies
156-170.Views:31The impact of the crisis in Spain helped to harden the difficulties of a large number of households
in Spain. Even though these conditions had a widespread impact, it has been more acute in
families that prior to the crisis were dealing with difficult situations. The main objective of this
paper is to identify strategies the households developed in order to face these difficulties. The
results have been selected from a qualitative analysis of 34 excluded household´s life stories. From
this analysis two interesting results were obtained: On the one hand, households have developed
prevention and survival strategies. On the other hand, the study identifies the consequences of
the strategies and their impact in terms of household´s social integration. With all the results,
the paper invites to reflect on the limits of survival strategies. -
Some demographic characteristics of long-term commuting in Hungary
3-19Views:52The study aims to show the most important demographic characteristics of long-term
commuting workers and the emerging territorial disparities using the latest available statistics.
The main motivation for commuting, including long commuting, is still to get the job they deem
appropriate, but about a quarter of a million people take on much greater burdens than average
and only travel home weekly or less frequently in Hungary. Most of them make this decision by
force, as there are no job opportunities in their place of residence, but the income they provide is
very important for their families. Long-term commuters mostly do seasonal work (construction,
catering, etc.) and work in physical jobs. Unsurprisingly, men are more likely to take on the life
form with increased physical and psychological strain, but not only the heads of the family in
their forties, but also young people in their 20s who are not yet independent of their families
are represented in large numbers. Long commuting is characterised by marked territorial
inequalities, and those affected mainly start from villages, despite the fact that the high level of public employment in the most disadvantaged areas is affecting the direction of the stay of the
workforce.
