Electronic Library of Scientific Literature - © Academic Electronic Press
Volume 32, 2000, No. 5, pp. 405-504
Ján Sopóci
Katedra sociológie FF UK, Bratislava
Interest Groups in Politics. The paper is devoted to the analysis of the interest groups in political life of society. An interest or pressure group differs from a political party in seeking only to influence the government – not become part of it. First part of the paper deals with the interest intermediary process in the political system of society. The second part brings the explanation of position, meaning and functions of interest group in political system. The third part deals with the types of interest groups and the fourth one deal with tactics of interest groups. There are a great many interest groups in a modern state. One of the most frequently used classifications of interest groups points that all sorts of organisations may function as interest groups. Main types of interest groups are then anomic groups, nonassociational groups, institutional groups and associational groups. The tactics that interest groups will use are determined by the sources of its power and by the opportunities that the political system offers for the use of power. There are several tactics available to interest groups in democracy: control of information and expertise, electoral activity, use of economic power, public information campaign, violence and disruption, litigation etc. Two main patterns of interest groups activity in democratic political system are pluralism and neocorporatism. Nature of the corruption and the institution of patronage in the intermediary process are also analysed.
Sociológia 2000 Vol. 32 (No. 5: 407-434)
Erika Kvapilová
Medzinárodné stredisko pre štúdium rodiny, Bratislava
The Diversity of Family Forms – The Challenge for Social Policy. The author pays attention to ideological foundations (conservatism vs. a more ”liberal” approach) of the family definitions and their impact on particular social policy measures directed towards families. Within this context she makes an attempt to identify fundamental features of family policy in Slovakia (family policy is limited basically to family oriented measures within the existing social policy framework). The author comes to the conclusion that Slovakia belongs to a group of countries where family policy has been explicitly formulated on the basis of conservatism/ traditionalism. In discussion she pinpoints risks connected with enhancing conservative approach to understanding the family: unequal status of men and women within the family and reproduction of a patriarchal family pattern, negative impact on individual rights of family members, etc. At the same time she outlines basic preconditions necessary for shifting the existing family policies towards more liberal measures that respect the real demographic, social and value development in Slovakia as well as its broader surrounding.
Sociológia 200 Vol. 32 (No. 5: 435-448)
Eva Bolfíková
Fakulta verejnej správy UPJŠ Košice
Situation Context Evaluation of Justice of Resource Distribution Rules. The paper is concerned with the significance of rules of distribution for the evaluation of justice of various sources of distribution. The aim of research was to investigate the influence and evaluate the justice of distributive event and sphere of social life in which distribution is realised on distribution rules. Research worked with a sample of 168 respondents (44% women, 55% men). The methodology was structured in three spheres: 1. Spheres of social life (economical, social, political, and humanitarian), 2. Distributive event (situation), 3. Rules of distribution (lottery, productivity, equality, giving much, social status, need). The analysis is realised as factorial design 4 x (4) x 6 (MANOVA - repeated measure). The results of the research show that the justice evaluation of distributive rules using is significantly determined by spheres of the social life in which is distribution activated and by the specification of each concrete distributive event. Thus, it is not possible to establish the transituational algorithm of distributive rules evaluation.
Sociológia 2000 Vol. 32 (No. 5: 449-470)
Mária Homišinová
Spoločenskovedný ústav SAV, Košice
About the Ethnicity of Members of Slovak Intelligentsia in Hungary -Relations Between the Degree of Ethnic Identity and Ethno-identification Categories. The paper is presenting the partial results of sociological research, realised in 1998 in Hungary, focussed upon the research of status of Slovak intelligentsia living there, with aim to identify the concrete factors of preservation and maintenance of ethnic identity of Slovak minority in Hungary.
In particular level the paper is submitting the mode of differentiation of respondents on the base of identification of degree of ethnic identity (low, medium and high degree of identity). As the indicators of determination of degree of ethnic identity were selected the qualitative marks (coefficients) from the sphere of use of Slovak language and culture of Slovak ethnic community.
Paper is also interpreting the results of bivariate analysis, focussing upon the detection of relations among then identified degrees of ethnic identity and selected identification categories such as declared adherence to ethnic community and identification of mother tongue.
Sociológia 2000 Vol. 32 (No. 5: 471-481)
Martin Kanovský
Katedra etnológie FF UK, Bratislava
A Sociobiologist on the Iceberg. This paper is a critical reply to an article “Is Sociology Afraid of Biology?”by Peter Sýkora, published in Sociológia. (Sociológia 1999, No. 3, pp. 375-396) Author presents three main lines of objections against Sýkora’s views. Firstly, the author shows that most of Sýkora’s arguments are defective and non-conclusive ones. Secondly, although Sýkora has presented the sociobiological theoretical background in a sufficient way, he has failed in its application on anthropological problems. It is showed than this failure was the evident result of Sýkora’s insufficient knowledge in anthropological matters (folk-tales, a work of Bronislaw Malinowski and so on). The close analysis provides an evidence that Sýkora commits a lot of factual errors, superficial remarks and weak arguments in dealing with anthropology. Finally, the author demonstrates that Sýkora has omitted a very important paradigm which has much to do with his topics, namely theories of co-evolution. The conclusion to be drawn: Sýkora’s paper cannot serve as a point of departure for fruitful and successful discussion between sociobiology and social sciences. The main reason is the lack of the balance between Sýkora’s serious and justified knowledge in the domain of sociobiology and his quite insufficient skills in anthropology and social sciences. With such a deficit, nobody can deal with these problems seriously.
Sociológia 2000 Vol. 32 (No 5: 483-494)