Institute for Sociology
Digital Boundaries and Young Adults in Romantic Relationships
Digitálne hranice a mladí dospelí v párových vzťahoch
| Duration: | 1.1.2026 - 31.12.2029 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Sekeráková Búriková Zuzana PhD. |
| Annotation: | The research project explores the use of digital technologies within intimate partnerships among young adults in the period of so-called emerging adulthood. In doing so, it pays particular attention to issues of control and to the ways in which digital boundaries are established and protected. Its specific aim is to investigate, through in-depth interviews and focus groups, how individual understandings of values such as privacy, autonomy, and trust shape the management of privacy and expectations within partnerships. The project’s scientific objectives are driven by a need to better understand generational specificities in the negotiation of relational boundaries. Boundary violations—manifesting as digital coercive control—constitute a significant social problem. Adolescents and young adults are especially vulnerable in this regard, as they often lack the skills necessary to effectively establish and maintain digital boundaries in intimate relationships. |
Patterns and drivers of work orientations and work experiences in comparative perspective
Hodnotové orientácie vo vzťahu k práci a pracovné skúsenosti v komparatívnej perspektíve
| Duration: | 1.7.2024 - 30.6.2027 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | Ing. Mezihorák Petr PhD. |
| Annotation: | The project aims at improving understanding of contemporary world of work by studying work values, attitudes and reflections of working experiences, based on new comparative data. Meanings of work, work centrality, preferred work characteristics and attitudes toward work, which represent one of key cultural foundations of the labour markets, can help in understanding of the ways people relate to work, how they cope with work and how they choose strategies in the world of work. This kind of knowledge becomes increasingly significant as societies face accelerated processes of technological changes. The project aims at examining work orientations and work experiences in a comparative perspective, based on the implementation of the International Social Survey Programme’s module “Work Orientations”. The project focuses not only on cross-country comparison, but also on a “historical” one. In Slovakia, the ISSP thematic module “Work Orientations” was carried out in 2015. Comparison of 2015 and 2025 data allows to study a sociologically interesting period, during which our society has faced several challenges, including the recovery from the 2008-2011 financial and economic crisis, the Covid-19 crisis, inflation and energy crisis and related increase in inequality and poverty. Further, the project goes beyond the implementation of the ISSP module “Work Orientations”, which takes the same form in all participating countries. It extends its scope by adding country-specific questions. Development of these questions will represent a specific stage in the project, based on theoretical and empirical conceptualization of the current challenges in the world of work in Slovakia. Last but not least, quantitative measurement of work orientations will be supplemented by series of focus groups, with the aim to obtain a deeper understanding of selected survey findings, based on the identification of underlying arguments of the public. |
Individual geopolitical preferences: measurements, predictors, and consequences in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Individuálne geopolitické preferencie: merania, prediktory a dôsledky v Českej republike a na Slovensku
| Duration: | 1.9.2024 - 31.8.2026 |
| Program: | |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Torres-Adán Ángel PhD. |
| Annotation: | The GPREFCZSK project is envisioned as a tool to expand the current knowledge on individual geopolitical preferences in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The project will have a clear multidisciplinary and international character and focus on several gaps identified in the literature that studies individual geopolitical preferences. These gaps have to do with (1) measurements of individual geopolitical preferences, (2) predictors and consequences of individual geopolitical preferences, and (3) trying to identify causality paths between individual geopolitical preferences and some of their predictors using survey experiments. GPREFCZSK will rely on survey data and survey experiments, and follow a quantitative approach, to try to answer its research questions. |
Institutional conditions for the performance of work and institutional work
Inštitucionálne podmienky pre výkon práce a inštitucionálna práca
| Duration: | 1.1.2024 - 31.12.2027 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Ing. Mezihorák Petr PhD. |
| Annotation: | The subject of the project is the relationship between the conditions for the performance of work and the relevant institutional frameworks that shape, enable, but also regulate and constrain that work. The perspective of institutional work allows us to grasp the ongoing interactive processes between the stabilising, structuring and regulating functions of institutions on the one hand, and the mechanisms for achieving gradual institutional change on the other. The complexity of the relationship between stability and dynamics will be highlighted by the choice of empirical cases that are at different stages of their (re)institutionalization. Through institutional work and other concepts of institutional and organisational theory, the project aims to analyse such actions of individual and collective actors that either have the ambition or in their consequences contribute to the creation, maintenance or disruption of those institutions that constitute the conditions of work performances in the analysed areas. |
Recruitment, context of reception, and integration of third country nationals in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Filipino migrant workers in Czech Republic and Slovakia
Nábor, kontext prijímania a integrácia štátnych príslušníkov tretích krajín v strednej a východnej Európe: Prípad filipínskych migrujúcich pracovníkov v Českej republike a na Slovensku
| Duration: | 1.9.2024 - 31.8.2026 |
| Program: | |
| Project leader: | Cases Rizza Kaye PhD. |
| Annotation: | The research is a two-year project that aims to understand the processes, infrastructures, and networks involved in the recruitment and integration of Filipino migrant workers (as a case of third country nationals) in Czech Republic and Slovakia. The project is divided into two phases: (1) examining migration management and governance from the sending and receiving countries’ perspectives in order to have a more nuanced understanding of economic migration policies and corresponding practices from recruitment to integration, and (2) exploring the experiences of both migrants and various actors connected to them in the places of origin and destination, which would allow us not only to assess migration outcomes at the individual level (e.g., migrants’ feelings of belongingness and integration) but provide feedback to, hopefully, improve macro-level infrastructures and processes (e.g., creating more effective programs for migrant integration based on the actual needs of migrant). Data collection and fieldwork will be conducted in both the sending country (Philippines) and the destination countries (Czech Republic and Slovakia). Apart from interviewing migrants in Czech Republic and Slovakia, a broad set of key informants (such as representatives and officers of embassies and relevant ministries, possibly recruitment agencies and employers, and officials of the newly established Department of Migrant Workers in Manila) will be also interviewed to share their experiences and insights concerning this particular migration stream. |
Nationalism, populism and social networks in a comparative perspective
Nacionalizmus, populizmus a sociálne siete v komparatívnej perspektíve
| Duration: | 1.7.2023 - 30.6.2026 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Ing. Bahna Miloslav PhD. |
| Annotation: | The project will provide new insights into the links between the three phenomena under study – nationalism, populism in politics and the use of social networks in political and civic participation. The analysis of these three related themes will take place both in a local Slovak and a comparative context. The comparative context of the project will be provided by data collection within the framework of two international comparative research programs – the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) – in which the members of the research team have been active for a long time. The implementation of the modules ISSP 2023 National Identity and Citizenship, ISSP 2024 Digital Societies and module 6 of the CSES research series will allow both to analyze the phenomena studied in the framework of the submitted project and to ensure the presence of Slovakia in the analyses of foreign authors dedicated to these topics working with the ISSP and CSES datasets. The project will empirically analyze the relationship between nationalism and populism, the nature of which is disputed in the literature. Populist attitudes and the determinants of demand for populist parties and politicians will also be analyzed. The aim will also be to understand the relationship between the use of social networks and indicators of civic engagement. The project will also look at the relationships between digital civic participation, societal polarization and the erosion of social and institutional trust in political institutions. The datasets generated during the project will be made freely available both through the Slovak Archive of Social Data (SASD) and as part of ISSP and CSES integrated datasets in the GESIS archive. |
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Pandemické pravdy: Porovnávacia štúdia konfliktov o konšpiračných teóriách v krajinách Vyšehradskej štvorky
| Duration: | 1.7.2022 - 30.6.2026 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Želinský Dominik PhD. |
Forms and mechanisms of differentiation and reconfiguration of public and political life. Collective actions and political attitudes.
Podoby a mechanizmy diferenciácie a rekonfigurácie verejného a politického života. Kolektívne akcie a politické postoje.
| Duration: | 1.1.2023 - 31.12.2026 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | doc., Mgr. Tížik Miroslav PhD. |
| Annotation: | Political activities are limited by the existing disputes and they also play their part in specific historical developments. Over about the past hundred years, Slovakia has undergone a few radical political changes. These have been associated with medium-term periods, when one generation could experience life in two or more types of political regimes and constellations. During each generation, new forms of political and public life were created. This has led to significant changes in self-definition not only in politics but also in other spheres of public life, including culture and science. Ideologies provide a strong impetus for fundamental transformation for they reframe the evaluation of the past and the definition of others, creating new fields of collective imagination. The project aims to perform a series of analyses of political, public and academic discourse to see how the power and ideological influences of the time pan out to create a morally defined self-image and the image of others. |
Navigating Ukrainians’ Integration in Slovakia: Multifaceted approach to identification of barriers and facilitators
Porozumenie ukrajinskej integrácii na Slovensku: komplexný výskum identifikácie jej bariér a stimulov
| Duration: | 1.9.2025 - 31.8.2029 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | Ing. Mezihorák Petr PhD. |
| Annotation: | Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with a shorter immigration history, lags behind established EU migrant destinations in migration policy development. As CEE countries transition into new immigration destinations, they face challenges in managing migration, shaping policies, and adapting to demographic and labor market shifts. This development has been exacerbated by current Ukrainian migration in the region. Slovakia, despite having a high per capita rate of Ukrainian migrants, remains understudied in this context. This interdisciplinary project, UkraIntegration - Navigating Ukrainians’ Integration in Slovakia: Multifaceted approach to identification of barriers and facilitators, aims to fill this gap. The research takes a multifaceted approach, considering individual immigrants’ experiences in Slovakia, Slovak policy contexts, developments in Ukraine, and broader European dynamics. Key research questions focus on migrants’ living and working conditions, factors influencing their integration, and Slovakia’s capacity to manage migration. Using mixed-methods, we integrate quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative methodologies, including longitudinal survey, in-depth interviews, and policy analysis. We seek to generate a comprehensive understanding of Ukrainian migrants’ socio-economic integration and produce two quantitative and three qualitative databases to inform future research, one of them being the first longitudina panel data collection on migrant population in Slovakia. Academically, this study addresses a critical knowledge gap in migration research, particularly in new immigration destinations, labour migration, and female migration. From a policy perspective, it contributes to the development of evidence-based integration policies, aligning with the EU’s 2024 Pact on Migration and Asylum. The project aims to enhance Slovakia’s capacity for migrant integration and position the country within broader European migration research. |
Bridging Relations In Differences of Gender, Ethnicity, and Exploitation in the workplace
Preklenutie rozdielov v rodovej a etnickej príslušnosti a deľbe práce na pracovisku
| Duration: | 1.6.2025 - 31.7.2026 |
| Program: | |
| Project leader: | Ing. Mezihorák Petr PhD. |
| Annotation: | In today’s workplaces, often in proximity, people work in different contractual relationships with their employer, for different employers (e.g., in the case of agency workers), and in different relationships with the state in which they work. These differences often overlap with the different gender and ethnic identities and migration experiences of workers. The aim of the project is firstly to describe how these differences in gender, ethnicity and migration experience are inscribed in the organisation of the labour process, i.e. how they interact with each other and with the division and control of labour process and labour intensity. Second, to analyse how workers with different labour-migration statuses and in different positions in the organisation of the labour process negotiate their working conditions, especially collectively across categories. The research questions are: What is the relationship between above-mentioned differences and working conditions? How does this relationship affect the possibilities for individual and collective negotiation of these working conditions? The project will focus on comparing several sectors in Slovakia, Poland and Czechia to understand the organisation of work in changing labour market conditions in countries that are new immigration destinations. The method will be semi-structured interviews and focus groups with workers. |
Reproductions of Religious and Worldviews Structures in Slovakia. A Hundred and Fifty Years of Change
Reprodukcie náboženských a svetonázorových štruktúr na Slovensku. Stopäťdesiat rokov zmien.
| Duration: | 1.7.2023 - 30.6.2027 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | doc., Mgr. Tížik Miroslav PhD. |
| Annotation: | In 2021, the 15th census of the population in Slovakia took place. Twelve of them have indicators of religion and worldview. This time series enables a unique way of analysing changes in the worldview profiles of society at the level of municipalities, regions, or specific religious groups. After 1989 a gradual pluralisation of the worldview structure began. However, only since 2011 has the proportion of those who claim to belong to small religious groups and those with no religious affiliation been growing significantly. The not-yet-detailed results of the 2021 census already point to some forms of change in all worldview groups. Setting the latest census results in a 150-year-long chain of censuses also raises the question of what factors, and in what form, influence the ability of some worldview structures to reproduce and grow, while others stagnate or gradually disappear. By describing the basic trends in the development of worldview structures from 1869 to the present and combining further quantitative and qualitative analyses, the project aims to explain the underlying factors that have influenced the reproduction of different worldview structures. Setting the analysis in the context of current international research on the reproduction of worldview systems will help not to neglect the influence of basic civilizational trends on these processes in Slovakia. The achievement of three partial objectives will lead to the fulfilment of this goal: 1. To analyse the historical dynamics of change in the structure of the Slovak population in terms of worldview. 2. To critically assess the methodological risks of measurement and to indicate the possible effects of measurement on specific results. 3. To show the possibilities of reproduction of different confessional and worldview structures in the crucial periods of modern history - at the time of signitificant modernization of Slovakia (1948-1989) and in the following period of building a pluralistic and market system. |
Social Cohesion in a Changing World: Finding Common Values and Attitudes in an Era of Digital, Environmental and Demographic Change
Spoločenská kohézia v meniacom sa svete: Hľadanie spoločných hodnôt a postojov v dobe digitálnych, environmentálnych a demografických zmien
| Duration: | 1.1.2026 - 31.12.2028 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Mrva Marianna PhD. |
| Annotation: | The accompanying phenomena of global changes that societies must face include, among others, growing uncertainty, political polarization, and the fragmentation of values. In this situation, it is important to focus on the values and attitudes that unite members of society and contribute to maintaining and strengthening social cohesion. Our project aims to explore the dimensions of social cohesion in Slovakia and to identify the values and attitudes that enjoy societal consensus and serve as a foundation for the harmonious coexistence of society’s members. We will focus more closely on three main areas: values and attitudes related to social inequalities, societal and institutional trust, and intergroup solidarity. We will examine these three areas in connection with three contemporary challenges: digital transformation, environmental change, and demographic change. To achieve the project's goals, we will use a combination of research methods, including secondary data analysis, surveys, and focus groups. |
Care, Control, and Autonomy: Digital Technologies and Care in Relational Perspective
Starostlivosť, kontrola a autonómia: Digitálne technológie a starostlivosť v relačnej perspektíve
| Duration: | 1.1.2025 - 31.12.2026 |
| Program: | Other projects |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Sekeráková Búriková Zuzana PhD. |
| Annotation: | The aim of the project is the exchange of information, skills and experience between a researchers from the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and researchers from the Centre for Digital Anthropology at UCL and the Department of Computer Science at UCL. The project focuses upon the intersection of care, control, and surveillance in the usage of digital technologies by intimate partners. Drawing upon feminist ethics of care and digital anthropology, the project is exploratory in nature and combines quantitative and qualitative research methods: representative quantitative survey, focus groups with practitioners providing services for digital abuse survivors, and in-depth interviews with people living in intimate relationships. The project examines practices and their interpretations, focusing on when - in which relationships and situations - digital technologies are interpreted as manifestations of care and tools of protection, and when they are interpreted as interfering with the autonomy of the individual, or tools of control and manifestations of violence. During the years 2025 and 2026 we will be working on data analysis and writing up publications, as well as on preparing larger, international project on the same topic. |
The Transnationalization of the Vojvodina Slovak Community: Political Framework and Everyday Practices of Interactions
Transnacionalizácia vojvodinskej slovenskej komunity: politický rámec a každodenné praktiky interakcií
| Duration: | 0.0.0000 - 31.12.2028 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | doc., Mgr. Tížik Miroslav PhD. |
| Annotation: | The project focuses on the Vojvodina Slovak community’s transformation from a predominantly territorial to a transnational one. Co-ethnic migrations of members of the community after 1990 took place in several waves. The community is scattered: some have remained in Serbia, some have been temporarily resident or permanently settled in Slovakia. An intensive flow has emerged of people, information, and various types of material objects between community members living in Slovakia, Serbia or other countries as well. This multifaceted phenomenon we explore in a multidisciplinary way, analyzing it in the historical context of individual waves of migration, as well as the political and institutional structures that make the process of transnationalization possible and within which it takes place, as well as transnational identifications, relationships, and practices present among community members. The country of their origin (Serbia) and the receiving country (Slovakia) represent one research field. |
The development of sexual populism in Hungary in the context of the refugee crisis (SEPO)
Vývoj sexuálneho populizmu v Maďarsku
| Duration: | 1.9.2024 - 31.8.2026 |
| Program: | |
| Project leader: | Andits Petra PhD. |
| Annotation: | SEPO is a systematic project that merges the fields of sexual nationalism, populism, and Islamophobia. Research on sexual nationalism produced significant works on homonationalism and femonationalism during the last decade, however, the link to populism remained under-explored. In this project, I examine the ways in which gender-and-sexual normativities are incorporated into politics within the populistic narrative. I specifically look at right-wing populism and choose Hungary as my case study, due to its leading populist tendencies in the Euro-Atlantic world. In order to clarify the boundaries of the project, I trace the development of sexual populism in Hungary in the context of the refugee crisis starting in 2015. The choice of this context is significant: Normative discourses about sexual behavior have been subject to intensified debate since the start of the refugee influx in 2015. Research shows that anti-immigrant voices in several places are adapting sexual and gender equality discourses for use against the (Muslim) refugees, making these prominent parts of the anti-immigrant narrative. In this way, sexual nationalism is transnational in scope. Here I aim to understand how these transnational processes are adapted and transformed in specific and unique ways to the Hungarian populistic narrative. Through this lens, I try to create theoretical frameworks that are non-totalizing or universalist. The project combines ethnographic fieldwork with nethnography that is user-created content on social media, more precisely Facebook. |
Sources and goals of the collective "WE" in Slovak political discourse and in Slovak sociology
Zdroje a ciele kolektívneho "MY" v slovenskom politickom diskurze a v slovenskej sociológii
| Duration: | 1.1.2026 - 31.12.2028 |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | PhDr. Kusá Zuzana CSc. |
| Annotation: | The project completes my long-term work in two spheres of the "collective We". The first is the examination of the political discourse on the governance of Slovak society. Here the aim is (a) to synthesize my own research; (b) to examine the program statements of the Slovak governments 1990 - 2023 and to find out what principles they refer to when legitimizing public policy goals and resource redistribution and how they connect the themes of social cohesion and inequalities with the collective "we"; and (c) to prepare a monograph devoted to theoretical perspectives on social cohesion and synthesizing my research on its domestic political understanding. The second sphere is the activity of the Slovak Sociological Society at the SAS after 1990. Here the aim is to examine its documentation, including activity reports, minutes and resolutions, from the perspective of M. Burawoy's division of sociological work (2005) and to reconstruct organizational and conceptual attempts to support cooperation and integration of the sociological community. The research will result in a monograph presenting the recent history of the SSS and in the organization of its registry for the SAS Archive. |
Changing Value Orientations in Slovakia and Europe: Challenges and Insights
Zmeny hodnotových orientácií na Slovensku a v Európe: výzvy a súvislosti
| Duration: | 1.9.2025 - 31.8.2029 |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | prof. PhDr. Miháliková Silvia PhD. |
| Annotation: | The reference to values is an important part of all spheres of social life, as values form the basis of the legitimacy of social institutions and the functioning of politics. Research on value orientations, the commitment for European values, and principles of democracy - such as pluralism, freedom, equality, democracy, solidarity, and justice - is particularly important in the current period of geopolitical tensions and societal polarization. The identification of value orientations, diversity and unity of value patterns in different social groups allows to determine the position of Slovakia in the European environment after more than 20 years of integration in common structures. The European Values Study (EVS) examines the extent to which basic values are accepted in society. The project's contribution is to provide reliable research findings from time series (1991 – 1999 – 2008 – 2017 – 2026) on the stability and changes in value orientations in Slovakia. The project will offer an important comparative perspective on the value preferences of the population in the context of other European countries. It will also enable the examination of the impact of current societal challenges, such as the rise of populism, growing social inequalities, changes in religious and family life, climate change, and migration. The scientific quality and contribution to understanding the dynamics of values in Slovak society are based on high methodological standards of representative survey and long-term international cooperation with prestigious scientific institutions. The project outcomes and data-based expertise will provide expert arguments for the public debate on values and current trends in their development. The scientific findings will be available to policymakers, journalists, teaching staff, academic community and public. The project is planned to be implemented over a period of 48 months. The project schedule has six stages and is divided into seven work packages (WP), which partially overlap. The individual stages of the schedule and the project's WPs have specific types of outputs. Several outputs are related to project management, are procedural (documentation, methodology) in nature, and ensure the methodological excellence of the project (Methodological report and Data Documentation, Reports for EVS Scientific Committee, etc.). |
The total number of projects: 17