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Interconnections between social work and the natural environment
96-112Views:59The aim of my study is to examine the appearance of ecology and natural environment in the
theory and practice of social work. By reviewing international literature, my aim is to review and
systematize basic theories and professional directions. I also consider it important to look at the
Hungarian aspects. Global environmental changes and social changes interact, and the social
work profession evolves, and incudes new trends and approaches while reflecting ever-changing
challenges. The relationship between the person and his/her environment has always been one
of the central themes of social work, but the pursuit of sustainability and the focus on the natural
environment may bring a new dimension to the interpretation of the person-in-environment
approach. In my paper, I attempt to understand the values and motivations of ‘green social work’,‘environmental social work’ and ‘eco-social work’ and I attempt to understand the relationship
between social work and the natural environment, and examine the roles social workers may
carry on related to the global environmental changes. -
Parents’ school volunteering in the interpretation of teachers in a disadvantaged region of Hungary
28-48Views:81In the international literature, there are many studies dealing with the voluntary work of parents at school, but there is little research on this in Hungary. In our study, we examine the volunteering of parents through the interpretation of teachers in three disadvantaged counties of Hungary, using a qualitative interview method. The research population was the teachers of primary and secondary schools, and the interviewed teachers were selected by multi-stage, stratified sampling. We included 38 interviews in the analysis, in which the voluntary work of the parents appeared. The interviews were analysed by manual and machine hybrid coding. According to our results, teachers also considered participation on request or under pressure as volunteering. “Real” volunteering is hardly present, and parents are less likely to initiate assistance on their own. Parents are typically occasional volunteers, and mostly the members of the parents’ work community participate in regular volunteer work. According to the teachers, the voluntary work of parents is indispensable in the life of the school, so in our opinion it would be important to promote it and to motivate parents to participate more in school life.
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On the margin of child protection: Negative life events impact on the adolescents and youth health behavior
80-108Views:145The 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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Participatory research of social issues: practical experience from a research project on homelessness
40-61Views:115This article is an account of our practical research and cooperation experience from a
participatory research project on homelessness and psychosocial disability carried out in a
Hungarian university context, by a student and two experts by experience in a researcher role.
We argue for the involvement of disadvantaged people using social services in research related
to disadvantaged people and social services, highlighting the advantages and challenges of this
kind of research based on our experience. Finally, we formulate practical recommendations that
migh be useful for beginners – like we used to be – in participatory research in this field. -
Knowledge, power and discourses in Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis
94-112Views:125Critical Discourse Analysis (or Critical Discourse Studies – CDA/CDS) examines the relationship between texts, discourses and power, dominance, power abuses and social inequalities. Critical discourse analysis is a multidisciplinary research perspective, which not only examines the interactions between the text, the micro level and its surroundings, the macro level, but its main goal is to uncover social inequalities, expose the forms and modalities of abuse of power. The representatives of CDA are committed to social equality and justice. Present paper presents the work of one of the outstanding representatives of Critical Discourse Analysis, Teun A. Van Dijk, by presenting the history and possibilities of CDA, and also the key elements of Van Dijk’s approach. This study aims to show how knowledge, power and discourse are connected in Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis.
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On the Roma issue again - Discourse analysis and reality
265-274Views:43At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, several works on the Hungarian Roma, their history, their current exclusion and their unresolved social situation, based on the same approach, partly on social history and partly on sociological surveys, appeared. Gábor Kertesi in 2005 ("On the margins of society. Roma in the labour market and in school") and Csaba Dupcsik in 2009 ("The history of the Hungarian Roma. History in the light of Gypsy studies 1890-2008") were published by Osiris Publishing House, while Tünde Virág's 2010 book ("Kirekesztve. Falusi gettók az ország margemén") was published by Akadémiai Kiadó as a result of a successful OTKA grant.
The most recently published work, presented at the 83rd Festive Book Week, is the first joint publication of Balázs Majtényi, a constitutional lawyer who is concerned with the protection of human rights, and György Majtényi, a historian who is particularly interested in the cultural and social history of the 20th century (including the Kádár era). The book, which can be ordered online with two different hardcover editions, was based on a 2003 study, which was later jointly expanded, combining the research results of several disciplines and "maturing" into a separate volume. However, it fails to provide the in-depth analysis of the subject of the title: it (also) fails to provide a factual social portrait of realities, of phenomena experienced and lived on a day-to-day basis, of phenomena examined from several perspectives, and of realistic alternatives to solutions. -
The Career Concepts of Male Workers with or without Child
91-105Views:50The 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. -
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.
