|
The process of addiction treatment in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous
Němcová, Lucie ; Grygar, Jakub (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This thesis concerns an alternative approach to the alcohol-addiction treatment within the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous and highlights the importance of self-help groups in the contemporary society. This worldwide biggest self-help group uses sociologically important processes to achieve a new way of life connected with sobriety. I have studied these processes through the participant observation. Alcoholics Anonymous influences its members through its specific culture which reflects in group rituals, high level of group affiliation, spirituality and co-constructed community story, which bears the member's knowledge. This thesis looks on the transition to identity of the sober alcoholic and the new way of living according to Twelve-Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous through the perspective of drift model of conversion, transition rituals or principles used in the narrative therapy. Within these processes there occurs radical reconstruction of perceptual, cognitive and behavioral schemes which influence the meanings in the interpretation of everyday life and consecutively change the identity of the individual and his social action. These changes of the individual are strengthened by the group members and then gradually spread out of the group boundaries too.
|
| |
| |
|
The Discussion about Expulsion of Sudeten Germans in Czech Society
Čížek, Tomáš ; Šmídová, Olga (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This thesis focuses on the controversy in Czech society over the displacement of Germans. The dispute is one of the most significant public debates related to the Czech past held since the fall of the communist regime. The work briefly summarizes the historical development of the controversy over the displacement and introduces the political context of the discussion held already in the democratic regime. The main part of the text consists of analysis of opinions on the issues of displacement in Czech newspapers in the period of one year directly before the Czech Republic entered the European Union Concerning methodology, the work is inspired by discourse analysis. However, the author is not that much focusing on the use of language, which is common within this methodological tradition, but rather on what is being expressed through the language, i. e. the contents of the discourse itself. In doing so, he refers to the work of the Czech-British anthropologist Ladislav Holý. The author concludes that two main approaches may be found within the debate over the displacement, and calls the first of them the "official" discourse and the other the "critical" discourse. Based on the analysis, it is not possible to speak of the two discourses as competing with each other in the form of notional oppositions,...
|
|
Guilt and responsibility in the context of criminal law: Discursive practices and strategies
Vávra, Martin ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Válková, Helena (referee) ; Večeřa, Miloš (referee)
The thesis deals with the ways political and expert (especially legal and criminological) discourses formulate and reproduce the meanings, assumptions and definitions constructing the man as a subject of criminal law, a subject responsible for his actions. It focuses on the ways the political domain (in particular, the lower and upper chambers of the Czech Parliament) and the scientific domain (in particular, legal science, criminology and psychiatry) form and formulate the opinions of "criminal law" and the ways these opinions are reflected in meanings embodied in criminal law itself. Methodologically, the thesis builds on critical discourse analysis. Put in plain language, what makes discourse significant is the oppression it brings upon us by defining what can be said about the world and how one can meaningfully act in it. Thus, it is not (only) a reflection of another, more real reality and it cannot be fully reduced to some other social phenomena. Therefore, by investigating discourse, one can identify the assumptions social actors build on and the argumentative frameworks they apply in discourse. The theory section formulates premises for the subsequent analysis of specific topics related to the formulation of "criminal" guilt and responsibility. After a short review of sociological...
|
|
The Ambivalent Agency: Battered Women Who Kill in Turkey
Çelikoğlu, Deniz ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Hrešanová, Ema (referee)
This study focused on the agency of battered women who kill in Turkey by conducting face- to-face interviews and using news articles covering the stories of three battered women who killed their abusers. Using a feminist poststructuralist theory and intersectionality analysis, the study analysed the patterns surrounding the agency of battered women who kill. Male violence in Turkey continues to be an unresolved problem, which continues to only grow. In the mainstream media and discourse, female victims of male violence tend to be portrayed within the victimhood concept. Thus, it creates an image of a weak, passive woman who does not have an agency. However, battered women who kill tend to conflict with the image of a passive victim. The act of killing does not fit the traditional understanding of femininity. The interview findings showed that battered women who killed their abusers were commonly understood as desperate, weak, and ignorant women. While the act of killing was justified, it was through a justification of an act conducted by someone who lacked agency. The news portrayals supported the findings of the interviews and showed that battered women who kill were justified when the woman was portrayed as a victim who killed specifically while she was being battered and was a mother who killed...
|
|
Finding Balance with Adderall: Responsibilization Discourses in Online Fora
Benešovská, Barbora ; Čada, Karel (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This thesis explores the discourses that surround psychopharmacological stimulant use in the online forum on reddit.com. The focus is on the negotiations of variable effects that people ascribe to the medication use. In the collective search for explanations and remedies, individuals become responsible for different aspects of their life in order to reach a balanced state. This state is constantly at flux and dependent on many variables, that are to be taken under control. Users thus have to monitor themselves and acquire self-knowledge, that is a based on listening to their embodied experience, and they have to adjust their bodies and daily routines. The idea of finding the right balance, that is informed by the embodied experiences, is closely connected to the ancient humoralist forms of governmentality. However, unlike in ancient humoralism, where balance necessarily meant adapting to the environment, biotechnologies have expanded the horizon of posssible modulations of bodies and selves, that may be achieved by the individuals themselves.
|
|
Competitiveness and solidarity of high school students
Karasaridu, Klára ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Spalová, Barbora (referee)
This master's thesis deals with competitiveness and solidarity among high school students. Students are required to have good results and achievements at school, which leads to competition among students to determine who is be the best. In addition, the class counts on cooperation and solidarity to function well as a group. These two phenomena can put pressure on students, and although they seem to be mutually exclusive, they are interconnected. This research focuses on these two elements in class relationships. I conducted qualitative semi- structured interviews. Due to the current pandemic situation, the interviews took place online. The main finding of the research is that competitiveness does not manifest itself in the usual way for students: it is not required by their surroundings, but they rather motivate themselves to compete with each other. Solidarity is reflected in how they work together and how they understand each other. For students it is important to have friendly relationships in the class, which makes them want to cooperate more (classmates with whom the students do not have such friendly relationships are not selected for cooperation to such an extent). Relationships are built not only through help and cooperation in the classroom, as expected, but above all through friendships...
|
|
From the military to civilian life: the vocational identity of former soldiers of the ACR
Soukopová, Aneta ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Uherek, Zdeněk (referee)
The thesis From the military to civilian life: the vocational identity of former soldiers of the ACR presents a qualitative research focused on the issue of transition from the military to the civilian environment. Based on research interviews with 28 informants from the ranks of former soldiers of the Czech Armed Forces, the author explains how the degree of identification with the army among former soldiers is related to the process of forming a new civilian identity and how the circumstances of their transition shape the formation of professional identities. The thesis also identifies the problems and concerns that departing soldiers face in the process of transitioning from the military to the civilian environment, and where the whole issue of transition between the two environments stems from. Within the research, space is also devoted to the related issue of preparing soldiers for the transition to the civilian environment. Based on the experiences of former soldiers, the process of preparing soldiers for employment in the civilian labour market and the approach of the military to this matter is explained. To make the research more objective, the author also answers the research questions concerning the strategies for supporting soldiers transitioning to the civilian environment and in...
|
|
Nudity as a source of (moral) provocation
Polesný, Ondřej ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Sloboda, Zdeněk (referee)
Bachelor thesis "Nudity as a source of (moral) provocation" deals with different reception of nudity. Nakedness in contemporary western culture, as a relationship between an unclothed body and the gaze of others, is variously legitimated through contexts of representation. For example, in the tradition of Old Testament nakedness cannot be disconnected from sexuality. A reference to biblical tradition (in the event of nakedness) is all the time more or less valid. Now, Nudity, sex and sexuality are discussed, coded and classified more than ever in contemporary culture through magazines, television, radio etc. It shows precisely how pervasive nudity, sex and sexuality are, and how easily it encroaches into areas previously considered non-sexual. I try to define areas in which is nakedness in conflict with specific notions, split contexts into classification and determine participants and their views of nakedness. Above all, I deal with conflict between nakedness and explicitly expressed morality. In my work, I exploit qualitative analyze of press - in the concrete I analyze articles of newspapers.
|