Electronic Library of Scientific Literature - © Academic Electronic Press


SOCIOLÓGIA
SLOVAK SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW



CONTENTS 1/2004, s. 1-104
OBSAH 1/2004, p. 1-104

 

Štúdie
Studies

Informácie
Information

Recenzie
Review


Meranie chudoby v regiónoch (okresoch SR)

Anton Michálek

Geografický ústav SAV, Bratislava

The Measurement of Poverty in the Regions of the Slovak Republic. Poverty is a grave social phenomenon which is intricately interconnected with and significantly effects different sides of human life and society. Poverty is a complex and multidimensional problem, which has not only a socio-structural dimension but also a socio-spatial one. That is why the central aim of this contribution is to conceptualise poverty in relation to space, to measure the level of poverty in selected territorial units (Slovak districts) and to identify districts with the highest level of poverty. An essential condition for the elimination of poverty is the knowledge of its spatial aspects, especially of its concentration, extent and differentiation. We measured the level of poverty in 79 districts in Slovakia (NUTS IV) using the conception of multiply deprivation based on the measurement of deprivations of important elements in human life. (Townsend, P., 1987) We analysed poverty by using relevant statistical data of seven significant indicators that determine or induce poverty (the lack of employment or education, a large and/or single-parent family, an overcrowded apartment, the lack of a bathroom and of a car). The quantification of deprivation level by a point evaluation and by measuring the indicators mentioned above became the evaluative means to determine the level of poverty in districts. On the basis of a quantitative evaluation of these indicators we gained a synthetic indicator of poverty. It presents a numeric expression of the poverty level in Slovak districts. The values obtained from the synthetic indicator differ considerably from each other, corresponding to significant regional disparities in the poverty level. On the grounds of this inequality, we identified the districts that are most affected by poverty. In the stricter sense, there are 16 districts with a high level of poverty, but in the broader sense, there are 21 more. From the territorial perspective, the majority of these districts are located in the south and in the east of Slovakia. These districts are characterised by their low level of demographic, economic, social and infrastructural potential, and by a lack of modern and fast communications and thus difficult traffic accessibility. The information gained concerning this unequal poverty level provides both a cognitive and explicative significance, i.e. it is an important basis to use in searching for solutions and programs aimed at the gradual elimination of poverty.

Sociológia 2004 Vol 36 (No. 1: 7-30)


Kulturní a sociálně ekonomické zdroje nerovností v šancích na dosažení vysokoškolského vzdělání v České republice v letech 1948 - 1999

Petr Matějů - Blanka Řeháková - Natalie Simonová

Sociologický ústav AV ČR, Praha

Cultural and Socio-Economic Origins of Unequal Opportunities in Attaining Higher Education in the Czech Republic (1948 – 1999). The article addresses the development of higher education in the Czech Republic after 1989. Czech higher education has changed profoundly since 1989. The most significant structural changes in the Czech tertiary education system addressed in the paper are decentralization and diversification. With an understanding of the basic parameters of both the contemporary political and institutional reforms and those in effect prior to November 1989, the authors address the question of how inequalities in access to tertiary education have evolved in the Czech Republic. Authors have formulated a hypothesis, which claims that the period of stable inequalities in the years 1948-89 was replaced by a period of growing inequalities during the post-communist transformation (1989-1999). The study devotes the most attention to the cultural and socio-economic (class) dimensions of social origin and gender, and their influence on the chances of attaining higher education. The authors consider the comparison of the levels of inequality during the communist era and in the post-communist era to be of particular importance. Theoretically they have drawn on the work of Raftery and Hout (1996) and Hanley and McKeever (1997), who discovered that the chances of attaining higher education among individuals from families with a low social status can only increase on the condition that the demand for the given level of education has first of all been satiated among all the strata disposing of social and cultural capital. Using a loglinear analysis the authors modelled the influence of social origin on the chances of making a successful transition between secondary and tertiary education in the years between 1948 and 1999. The initial hypothesis of the growing influence of social origin on this transition in the period after 1989 was confirmed by the authors in their analysis of data. They see an explanation for this trend in the insufficient degree of expansion of the tertiary sector of education, which is incapable of satisfying the continually growing demand for higher education amidst circumstances in which socio-economic inequalities are on the rise.

Sociológia 2004 Vol. 36 (No. 1: 31-56)


Interakcia lekára a pacienta pri poskytovaní nepriaznivej správy

Alžbeta Mračková

The Interaction of a Doctor and a Patient When Giving Unwelcome News. The aim of the study is to uncover the connections that create an interaction in situations when a patient is informed about sensitive issues regarding his sickness, dying and death. We wanted to discover the circumstances which determine what a chronically sick patient elicits about his situation, and which signs doctors use to decide how to inform the patient about his unfortunate state. We hoped to determine whether they use certain rules during the interaction as well as simultaneously respecting the individuality of each patient and his situation. In the first part we present a theoretical approach which is based upon sociological studies of medicine and death. It includes some aspects that shape an interaction during the announcement of unfavourable news. These are primarily: the displacement of dying and death from everyday life to hospitals, the limitations of medicine in treating cancer, the doctor’s helplessness and uncertainty regarding diagnosis and therapy and finally the great expectations and trust which the patients have that they will be cured. In the second part we report findings gathered through a qualitative analysis of participant observation and unstructured open-ended interviews with doctors at the oncological ward, where the author worked as a volunteer. In the study we analyse three basic interaction situations: announcing the diagnosis, talking to the patient about quitting a cure, and informing him that he is dying.

Sociológia 2004 Vol 36 (No. 1: 57-84)


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