2003/3-4

Recently we have voted for the accession of our country to the European Union. One section of the agreement about our accession concerns certain transitory periods, which refer, apart from other things, to the so-called free movement of workers. In countries that will put these transitory periods into effect Czech citizens will still be allowed to work only with a work permit. Some member states declared already in advance that they would fully liberate their labour market immediately after t…

Czech political parties have existed for more than one decade. Their position in the political system seems to be stable and is seldom put to doubt. When this occurs after all, a solution only seemingly dissimilar to political parties is offered. This was the case, for example, with the “Thank You, Leave” (Děkujeme, odejděte) civil initiative. Its representatives were thinking of transforming it into a political party after the initiative succeeded with the public.

Undoubtedly, the culture of cooking is one of the elements of human culture. Traditional cuisine differs from region to region. In the past, the use of individual ingredients was closely linked not only to climatic conditions and their gradual changes, but also to human activities – development of trade (overseas travels), discoveries of new cooking technologies (closing of the fireplace).

Cooking skills have traditionally passed from the mother onto the daughter.

Undoubtedly, party preferences are an indicator (and, from the point of view of media discourse, the most rewarding one) of political moods in the public. Why is it precisely party “popularity” that lays in focus of attention of laymen and expert public alike? Without the need to plunge into theoretical enumerations of functional lists of political parties, it is beyond discussions that political parties represent – along law-making bodies, government, and bureaucracy – the main struc…

This article will not deal with public opinion as a social phenomenon. Many questions about what is public opinion, who are its bearers, what is its content and how does it appear were asked in the past and it seems that many of them still haven’t been answered sufficiently.

The trivial and most easily accessible definition is that “Public opinion is the opinion of the public”. However, it is far from solving the problem: What does it mean “public?” Who consti…

In case we apply this notion to businessmen and according to a recent survey of CVVM, it seems to hold true.

The survey in question, whose author was Milan Tuček from the Department of Transformation of Social Structure of the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences (SoÚ AV) of the Czech Republic, was based on comparing opinions of the Czech population on big businessmen with their opinions on medium and small businessmen.

In January 2003 Centre for Public Opinion Research (CVVM) conducted a survey, which was, apart from other things, aimed at a family and family life. Our report pursues issues related to establishing a family, especially timing of certain events, and also to attitudes of the questioned to certain controversial issues of relations between couples. These opinions document well how open or conservative the respondents are.

Non-profit organisations are an important part of modern society. Also, they are one of the key institutionalised players in interest mediation. The main topic of the article is the issue of operation of third sector and civil participation in the Czech Republic. The notion of civil participation comprises involvement of citizens in the public sector, separated from (but not independent of) the state, and the economic sector.

The issue of international migration seems to have become more relevant lately than any time before. The debatable and sometimes problematic demonstration of the human right to decide freely about their place of residence becomes even more popular in the era of technical progress and modernization. Higher access to travelling, attractive pictures of distant countries and unknown lands presented by media, uneven economic development of various countries and parts of the world, political proble…