Electronic Library of Scientific Literature - © Academic Electronic Press
Volume 34, 2002, No. 4, p. 285-388
Profily a interpretácie / Profiles and Interpretations
Informácie / Information
Recenzie / Reviews
Ján Mišovič
Sociologický ústav AV ČR, Praha
Reflections on the Social Consciousness in the Past and in the Present. Social consciousness became the object of interest of especially German and French sociologists during the 19th and 20th century. When we look for the ”common denominator” of their perception of the discussed issue, we will find it is the social conditioning of the consciousness of society. It is possible to find this approach with many authors, namely with K. Marx, E. Durkheim, K. Mannheim, M. Scheler, P. Bourdieu, but also with C. M. Mills, P. L. Berger and others. Marx` system based on the notions of base and superstructure became one of the most influential ones.
Researchers focused their intention on manifestations of political movements such as ideologies, false consciousness, utopian consciousness, but also on individual forms of the consciousness of society, such as religious, political and legal consciousness. Later, the communication effect of media was accompanied by the identification of mass consciousness and public opinion.
When considering the life strategies of human individuals, sociologists have been having a close look at the role of life experience, world-view (Weltanschauung), ”common sense”, and recently also at the role of habitus.
The consciousness of society has not had a limpidly pure form on any stage of its development - there has always been a mingling of individual strata, starting with the mythological consciousness and coming to present consumer consciousness.
Human race accepted various ways of compulsory explanation of reality: the first one was a consensus, then a monopoly situation followed by atomised competition. Finally, the modern age brought a concentration of cognition. There is one more feature that has proved to be important: the development from the most natural world-views (myths) towards the most artificial, technological cognition.
Post-modernism deeply influenced the formation of social consciousness by giving mass media a strong (often manipulating and misleading) influence upon public.
The transformation processes in the post-Communist countries have emphasised the peculiarities of these countries` social consciousness. Even though Marxism was forced out by neo-liberalism, there have been principles of paternalism, collectivism and conformism still remaining in the minds of people. This situation results into paradoxes in legal consciousness, in the attitude towards economy, morals, etc. Only further research can show to what extent the present state of consciousness of these societies is under influence of democratic processes.
Sociológia 2002 Vol 34 (No 4: 287-304)
Peter Gajdoš
Sociologický ústav SAV, Bratislava
The City and Its Development in the Social-Spatial Context. The text deals with the issue of a city as a basic settlement type and as a basic settlement community. It also investigates the shaping of its position within the context of the development of urban and civilisation connections. It starts from the assumption that it is necessary to look at the phenomenon of city from the overall perspective of the general development of social changes in the modern society or the whole industrial civilisation to understand why the modern industrial city has come into a crisis.
The first part of the text explains the development problems of a city as a type of human settlement, the development of ideas of what a city is considered to be, as well as the critical reflection of this concept in the sociology. The text presents the position of a contemporary city as a social-cultural, but also a living environment of modern society. It presents some current social, cultural, social-spatial and ecological problems of a city, and puts the stress on the need to humanise cities and to increase the quality of life in urban environment.
In the second part of the text, the author focuses on a more detailed description of the character of the industrial city crisis, and on searching for ways to humanise this environment where almost 50% of all human population live their lives. The author points to the selected social relations of the end of the period of rapid urban growth and describes the development of new spatial forms and spatial structures of cities. He also deals with the preconditions for forming a new position of cities in the transformation of modern society. Author discusses the influence of globalisation on the new typology of cities and on the polarisation of its capacities related to their ability.
Sociológia 2002 Vol 34 (No. 4: 305-326)
Anton Bezák
Geografický ústav SAV, Bratislava
Inter-Regional Migration in Slovakia, 1981-1998. Inter-Regional Migration in Slovakia, 1981-1998. Spatial pattern of population redistribution through internal migration in Slovakia in the 1990s was significantly different from that apparent in the previous decade. Dramatic shifts have occurred in response to processes of political reform, economic restructuring and social changes. This paper aims to provide interpretation of the changing patterns of internal migration in Slovakia during the 1981-1998 period at the inter-regional scale using data from current registration of population. At the national level, the research has shown a continuation in the long-term decline of the level of internal migration in both absolute and relative terms. Despite the recent increase in the proportion of inter-regional migration, the efficiency with which net migration redistributes population between regions in Slovakia has declined over time.
At the regional scale, the results highlight the general shift in pattern of movement from the strongly centralised picture to a more uniform and decentralised pattern. The geographical distribution of net migration in Slovakia is no longer dominated by huge net migration flows to regions with the major administrative and industrial centres. By 1990, the extreme migration balances had disappeared and the net migration pattern had become more uniform. Long-established in-migration regions have subsequently transformed to areas of net migration loss and some of the traditional out-migration regions have experienced net migration gains. In addition, there is a clear evidence of short-distance deconcentration drifts, involving net migration flows from both of Slovak metropolises, Bratislava and Košice, to adjacent regions.
Sociológia 2002 Vol 34 (No 4: 327-344)