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Through the screen of the majority ...: Public opinions on the social situation of Roma and their media representation
74-92Views:33This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey on public opinion on the social situation of Roma and their media coverage. The survey was based on the attitudes of the population towards the Roma, their perceptions and prejudices, and their perceptions of the media coverage of the Roma.
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The characteristics of social contact intensity, contact frequency and contact structure in Hungary in 2006 and 2015
102-138Views:35The 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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Solidarity and autonomy in times of an epidemic
47-73Views:32The paper seeks to answer the question: what patterns of solidarity and autonomy can be identified in the Hungarian context of late modernity. The specific difficulty of answering this question is that it refers to social structures, which are naturalized interpretations of reality, thus exist mostly at an unreflective, preintentional level. In order to address this difficulty, our research has considered the COVID epidemic as a natural experimental situation: while the paradoxes and distortions of solidarity and autonomy, are usually naturalized by the actors, during the COVID they become reflected. The first section of the paper develops theoretical idealtypes of autonomy and solidarity specialised to the Hungarian social historical context. Then, after a brief methodological overview, I will present different patterns of solidarity and autonomy in the form of case studies. In the final section, the general conclusions are drawn from these cases, while an attempt is made to answer the question: how do the actors cope with modernisation structures that narrow the space of solidarity and autonomy and are characterized by fundamental paradoxes?
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On the Roma issue again - Discourse analysis and reality
265-274Views:32At 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. -
Reification, child protection in lock-ups
34-46Views:50This paper examines how the child protection system can address the problems of children and young adults, compensate for childhood disadvantage and promote successful social integration. To what extent are the professional means available within the state structure to achieve all these goals - as declared in the Child Protection Act of 1997. The interpretation of solidarity as a value in child protection is clear, since child protection aims to improve the situation of families affected by child protection problems and to promote their healthy personal development. The study, based on interviews with professionals and experts and a short case study, draws attention to the shortcomings and limitations of the system.
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Social contacts and spending of leisure time of the elderly
86-104Views:163The phenomenon of the aging of societies is now well-known, demonstrating its demographic, economic and social impact in many countries around the world. The increase in average life expectancy at birth and the low number of children have naturally triggered the emergence of declining, aging societies. All this has led to a number of tasks for policy makers, domestic and international organizations, primarily to promote active, healthy aging. This article describes some of the results of an empirical study of 167 people conducted jointly with St. Luke’s Greek Catholic Charity in the winter of 2019 in order to assess the situation and needs of the elderly. This article presents the results of our study, which focuses on community activities, leisure, and social relationships. During our analytical work, we found that those living in residential care homes are more open to community-based activities to maintain physical and mental activity.
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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. -
How has university students’ drug use changed during Covid-19?
161-177Views:142The Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown have had significant psychological and social impacts
on everyone’s life. Changing life circumstances and daily routines, job losses, uncertainty, have
put a psychological strain on us. As a consequence, we may experience risk behaviours more
often than before. The aim of the study is to analyse how risk behaviours have changed due to
Covid-19 among university students in Hungary, and to identify the psycho-social factors along which the shift can be explained. The analysis is based on the data of ‘Covid-19 International
Student Well-Being Study’ – a study initiated and coordinated by the University of Antwerpen
involving 75 universities from 26 countries. Four Hungarian universities – Corvinus University
of Budapest, the University of Debrecen, the University of Miskolc, and the University of Szeged
participated in the study. The survey was conducted among all university students who filled
in an online questtioannaire in Spring 2020. Our results show that all risk behavoiurs have
declined during the Covid-19 period. However, students who had had consumed drug before
Covid-19 have been using them more frequently during the pandemic. Our results suggest that
the recreational use have probably declined and the problematic use have probably increased
among university students during the pandemic. Our results highlight the fact that students for
whom the crisis situation imposed by the quarantine was hard to handle are more likely to use
substances more frequently, so offering them prevention and treatment options is crucial. -
In the thick of relationships? Personal and distance relationships with relatives and friends in Hungary in 2015
65-101Views:53The study presents the structure and intensity of the relationships of the Hungarian population over 16 years of age through a descriptive analysis of four variables measuring the frequency of personal and distance contact with relatives and friends from the EU-SILC 2015 survey. According to the data, the relationship structure is on average balanced, half of the relationships are related to relatives or friends, and the relative proportions of personal and long-distance relationships are similar. According to our results, in addition to age, the financial situation of the household has a significant correlation with the characteristics of the relationship structure. One of the lessons of multivariate regression models is that the effect of other background variables on the relationship structure intensifies in parallel with aging, leading to a deepening of relationship inequalities among the elderly. Another lesson of the models is that the inclusion of household characteristics (financial situation, number of household members, material transfer relationship with other households) has a significant effect on the mechanism of individual background variables, thus confirming that a deeper study of relationship intensity and relationship structure within the household is essential. At the end of our analysis, we compiled clusters based on the intensity of relationships, the direction of relationships, and the channel of contacting, with a relative majority of more than one-third of the respondents with extremely weak relationship embeddedness.
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Future vision-creation: Examination the motivations behind the future plans of Hungarian youngsters
5-19Views:56In our rapidly changing world, it is becoming more and more complex and complicated for
young people to plan their future, which is perceived as a problem by all who are involved. Issues
such as one’s relation to democracy, their desire to have children, their intentions to pursue
further studies, whether they plan their future in their place of residence or abroad or the risk
of deviant behavior are not only important from the point of view of the individual but also for
society, as the future of a given region is also influenced by the above indicators of future vision.
Research methods traditionally applied in youth research, which focus on socio-demographic
characteristic features (i.e. objective life situation indicators), are less and less capable of
providing adequate answers to these questions. In my hypothesis, to identify the underlying connections, the research tools of psychology and sociopsychology are also necessary to be
applied apart from traditional sociological methods.
Therefore, in my study, by the secondary analysis of the most recent, 2014 data of the
European Social Survey, I intend to demonstrate the significance of the underlying motivations
as future vision creating factors behind the decisions Hungarian young people make. -
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. -
Challenges in rural Hungary in the post-pandemic period: Perception of problems in „emerging settlements” of Sellye district
5-31Views:147The social problems of marginalised rural areas have intensified and transformed in recent years, particularly in the context of pandemic and economic crisis. In the countries of the Central and Eastern European region integration of marginalized areas is a major challenge. Unlike in the West, segregation and ghettoisation are problems of small rural settlements far from prosperous centres. In Hungarian countryside, the life of small villages, which are located far from economic centres and lack institutions, continues to be characterised by negative migration trends. In this article, we present the situation of seven small villages in southern Baranya, which are covered by the programme to help the 300 most disadvantageous Hungarian settlements to integration, in the light of the perception of problems of the population living there. Our survey aimed to explore the difficulties related to the pandemic and everyday life at local level. The assessment of subjective perceptions provided an opportunity to structure the disadvantaged rural population from a specific perspective and to analyse the problems of the characteristics of each group.
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Peer support instead of community solidarity among people with psychiatric diagnosis: Examining an online, anonymous self-help website
10-33Views:30In our research, we examined the first social networking website in Hungary that was specifically and explicitly designed for people with mental health problems and their relatives, or for people interested in the topic. A unique feature is that in 2021, it will still be possible to register anonymously and post comments on the site. Our research explores the life situations of people diagnosed as psychiatrically ill based on the concept of the recovery model, and therefore a central question for us is how an online self-help, peer support group can contribute to the recovery of individuals. In addition, one of the main hypotheses of our research is that community solidarity towards people with a psychiatric diagnosis is very low at different levels of society, and therefore self-help and peer support, also provided by the site we are investigating, may be of particular importance for the people concerned. We assume that they are a group that is highly stigmatised and socially rejected. In the media they are typically either invisible or portrayed as violent, aggressive figures. The Covid19 epidemic situation has led to many people experiencing psychological difficulties because of quarantine or the long-term side effects of the virus itself, which have been thematised in the media, but we believe that the mechanisms of solidarity with those diagnosed as psychiatric patients have not fundamentally changed (see for example the first establishment of psychiatric hospital wards
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Social stratification among Transylvanian youngsters: youth in the new social structure
67-95Views:25We investigate changes in the socio-economical, labor market, and educational situation of the
Hungarian youngsters from Transylvania; the investigation is based on two large-scale (MOZAIK
2001 and Youth 2016) surveys. The principal research question is the choice of the paradigm
from the toolbox of social stratification that can describe the inequalities within this group.
Our conclusions state that the influence traditional variables diminished, and that horizontal
differences must be taken also into consideration to better describe stratification. -
Low-educated young people in the labour market in the Derecske sub-region
144-161Views:39The aim of my analysis is to explore the social background, capital endowment and labour market situation of low-educated young people and to compare it with the situation of the more highly educated. The research was carried out in the framework of the project "Rural Youthjobs" Facilitating the Integration of Rural Youth ont he Labour Market of Bihor - Hajdú-Bihar Euro-Region HURO/1001/081/2.3.2 in the Derecske sub-region in 2012. A stratified sample of 10% was used for the questionnaire survey. Young people aged 14-37 years participated in the survey and were interviewed in five municipalities, 228 in Derečke, 80 in Sáránd, 38 in Tépé, 91 in Hosszúpályi and 64 in Konyár, for a total of N=501.
From these, in the present analysis, I have selected the employed (142 persons), the registered unemployed (81 persons) and the non-registered unemployed (24 persons), and excluded the rest of the inactive population, as the main aim of my work was to study the currently active population, thus the number of elements was N=247 persons.
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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. -
Forms of parental control in the case of postadolescent youth
123-141Views:111The present study addresses control factors that emerge during the detachment of young people in the post-adolescent age that may delay or hinder the detachment process of the young adult. It aims to highlight that childhood upbringing, the child-parent relationship, and the communication that takes place between them allow the creation of a new type of typology in which not only parental control tools can be identified but also social control mechanisms can be identified. Most post-adolescence research traces the success or extent of detachment mostly to the financial situation of young people. This paper, however, aims to briefly demonstrate that a deeper understanding of the dimensions of detachment as conceived by László Vaskovics is possible through the study of attachments and bonds.
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Labor migration in Szeklerland: Migration and development, decision-making
17-31Views:31Migration 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. -
The psychological background of unemployment - the chance of a new start or the risk of stagnation?
181-202Views:29The aim of this paper is to present the state of unemployment and its psychological processes and consequences, and to summarise the results of psychological tests completed by jobseekers participating in the HURO Rural Youthjobs project.
We begin by clarifying the concept of unemployment. 'Unemployment is defined as the situation in which someone is unable to find an acceptable job in the labour market for a prolonged period of time' (Hajduska 2012: 119). Another definition is that 'persons who are not employed during the (defined) reference period but are employable and make active efforts to find a job are considered unemployed' (Haugen and Bregger, 1994; cited in László et al., 1998, p. 1).Unemployment can arise as a result of redundancies, layoffs, but it can also be caused by a protracted search among young people starting out in their careers (Hajduska, 2012) Whatever the cause, unemployment is a social phenomenon that can take many forms (Bánfalvy, 1997)
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The Situation of Adult Education in Seclerland: Summary of professional analyzes from the decades following the regime change
93-108Views:18The 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. -
Environmentalism of university students in relation to their materialism, life satisfaction, views on politics and pandemic
70-97Views:70Recently, an increasing focus has been made on studying environmental problems and the
related social phenomena. Understanding the environmentalism and its influencing factors
in the case of higher education students can greatly help the preparation and identification
of sustainability policies and educational practices in higher education institutions. In this study, we investigated environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior of
students at 17 Hungarian universities as a function of a number of hypothesized influencing
factors. These included materialistic values, life satisfaction, political views, and views on the
Covid-19 pandemic. According to our results, these were all related to environmentalism. More
environmentally conscious students were less materialistic, less right-wing in their political
views, more satisfied with their lives, and also differed in their views on pandemic issues. Beside
a weaker impact of environmentalism and political views, life satisfaction was largely influenced
by the relative financial situation perceived by respondents. -
The situation of Roma education in Harghita county – attitudes of pedagogues
75-92Views:29The study presents the attitudes and behaviours of pedagogues, based on interviews with
teachers working with Roma children which constitute the quotidian educational practice. In
absence of institutional programs, infrastructural and personal conditions, the teachers need
to find solutions for the given difficulties. They become the key figures of the integration process
and hence their attitudes and approaches are determining from the point of view of Roma
children’s school efficiency. The target audience of the research are composed by pedagogues,
who teach in elementary schools in the Csiki Basin in Harghita county, where the rate of Roma
learners exceeds 25 percents. Signalling the main directions of the national policy and the
presentation of literature examining the Hungarian-Roma relationship in Szeklerland offer a
broader framework for the interpretation of the subject. -
The interpretation of prejudice among students in Debrecen
232-243Views:44Negative discrimination has always existed, we have always had an opinion about the other individual, despite the fact that it was often without any background knowledge. It was in the first half of the twentieth century that the scientific, social psychological study of prejudice began in the United States, dominated by the antagonism between whites and blacks. It was at this time that human society came to realise that the problem was a global one, and that it was essential to examine it, starting, among other things, from the massacres of the Second World War, which were partly the result of prejudice. Unfortunately, however, we do not need to go back to the great events of history to realise that prejudice has serious consequences. In our everyday lives, we are also confronted with a plethora of cases of crime, discrimination and conflict based on an image of the other person that is based on incomplete information.
Although the image of a world free of prejudice may be a utopia, these types of feelings and attitudes can and must be dealt with, but above all it is very important to map the situation and to examine it scientifically. -
Factors that influence matechoice among college women
136-158Views:31The centre of the study is the influential factors of female students in higher education. As a
research question, does the institution of marriage continue to be a prominent place among
female students in higher education as a planned relationship? And, does a person with
a higher education level of education develop a relationship with a higher educated person,
therefore achieving homogeneity of relationship? Thereby the choice of coupling is presented in
addition to the examination of marriage, cohabitation and postponement mechanism, beyond
the factors influencing partner selection, which are analyzed in a qualitative research of tenpersons. Factors include age, place of residence, origin and religion, separation from parenting,
educational attainment, material capital and labor market situation, planned duration of the
relationship and effects of the information age.
