Electronic Library of Scientific Literature
Electronic Library of Scientific Literature
Volume 30, 1998, No. 5
Ján Sopóci
Katedra sociológie FF UK, Bratislava
Two Theories of Social Class and Social Stratification. Social class and social stratification belongs to classic topics of sociology. The paper deals with the two contemporary most influential theories of classes: Erik Olin Wright's neomarxist theory and John H. Goldthorpe's neoweberian class theory. The purpose of this paper is to consider how these theories represent the two major theoretical traditions of class analysis in sociology and to discuss main streams of their critique. The author argues that in spite of many common characteristics, the compared theories preserve their distinctive features: the core concept of the first one is class relations, the second has got rather gradualistic character. The neo-marxist theory has still recognised the existence of the distinct class of capitalists, the neo-weberian theory attempts to conceal its existence. Wright argues that the main division line is that between employers and employees, Goldthorpe considers it to be the line between manual and non-manual workers. Neo-marxists still distinguish between capitalists and other classes. On the next hand, neo-weberians state that there is the plurality of non-capitalist social classes.
Sociológia 1998 Vol. 30 (No. 5: 445-462)
Miloš Havelka
Sociologický ústav AV ČR, Praha
Max Weber and the Origins of the Sociology of Religion. The paper outlines brief characteristics of the fundamental problems of the sociology of religion, in the perspective of what effect religion has on society, the effect of society on religion, as well as in the perspective of the character of religion in the broadest sense. In this respect, there is a reference to unconventional religion and crypto religion. The author points out the danger of sociological and culturological simplification of religion and its legitimisation and compensation functions. The factors considered important for the origin of sociology are: the emancipation of sociology from the sphere of the philosophy of history - mainly historicism; dealing with the problem of the individual's integration into society, the awareness of the invisibility of societies, and the problem of social bonds. In the part dealing with prehistory of the sociology of religion, reference is given to Comte and Marx. The author more thoroughly discusses the contribution of Durkheim and Max Weber, and the further development of the discipline that has been influenced by the problems that have been studied by E. Troeltsch, J. Wach, G. Mensching, R. Bellah, P. L. Berger, T. Luckmann, D. Bell, R. R. Staufer, Ch. Y. Glock, N. Luhmann, and E. Gellner.
Sociológia 1998, Vol. 30 (No. 5: 463-484)
Bernardína Bodnárová
Prognostický ústav SAV, Bratislava
Transformation of Social Politics on the Background of Formation of New Social and Economic Structure. The article tries to explain the necessity of transformation in social politics. This necessity has been provoked by the two main conditions. The first one is the profound change of societal organization and the transformation of social and economic structures. The argument is that in the advance societies, the development of market economy is basically interrelated and mutually preconditioned with the development of social policy system. Social policy reform is therefore as much important as the reform of economy. The second condition is the objective to adapt Slovakian system of social politics to more general European context and approximate its principles. This objective is reasoned by the fact that certain social problems are common to all European societies and also by the fact, that the objective of the Slovak Republic is to enter the EU and therefore to meet the requirements in this domain.
Sociológia 1998 Vol: 30 (No. 5: 485-498)
Ľudmila Mistríková - Darina Heřmanová - Anna Volná
Katedra sociológie FFUK, Bratislava, Ústav sociálneho lekárstva LFUK, Bratislava
Family Planning of University Students in the Context of the Second Demographic Revolution. The paper presents the findings of the sociological survey done in 1997 that was focussed on the university students' opinions about marriage, partnership, parenthood, desirable number of children and their life goals. The findings are discussed in the context of theoretical debate about the second demographic revolution (van de Kaa, 1996, Matulník - Pastor 1997) and the decreasing birthrate in Slovakia as its empirical indication. The paper suggests that the decreasing birthrate is not a recent problem in Slovakia - it brings about the overview of the social-demographic studies done before the second world war (led by I. Stodola, E. Tománek, A. J. Chura, A. Štefánek) that dealt with the issue of decrease in the birthrate. Despite the statistics of the falling trend of the birthrate in this decade, many research findings, including the findings of the authors, suggest that young people do not mostly manifest anti procreation attitudes and majority plans to live in marriage in future and to have two children (the most frequent choice). At the same time, young people would like to maintain the life space for self-realisation and their personal interests. The revealed combination of life goals is close to the family planning strategies that are typical for younger generation in the western countries.
Sociológia 1998 Vol. (No. 5: 499-520)