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Changes of children's status in society: disappearance of childhood or childhood innocence?
Papoušková, Kristina ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Dvořák, Tomáš (referee)
My bachelor work is focused on the topic of childhood, namely its development and change in society. I introduce here the discipline of sociology of childhood - range of its interest, background of its progress and notable authors. I'd like to prove that childhood isn't only a period of time in life. I research infancy as social entity, in this context it is possible to compare childhood to social construct such as gender or social class. I define possible forms of infancy including for example the topic of disappearance of childhood. I try to emphasize that infancy wasn't always included in the same way in society. Last but not least I try to deconstruct the myth of innocent childhood, which is typical for Western culture. Apart from the theoretically oriented part the work also includes empiric section, which analyses infancy of three generations of women, who lived their childhood in different periods of 20th century in Czechoslovakia. In this analysis I concentrate on infancy in context of social changes and in relation to effect of educational institutions or child collective on children. I aim to describe disappearing infancy and the myth of child innocence.
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Free hugs - Sociological interpretation
Dobešová, Petra ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Kotík, Michal (referee)
Bachelor thesis "Free Hugs - A sociological interpretation" gives an interpretation of the phenomenon called Free Hugs - offering hugs to strangers on the street. The basic question behind the early work was the following problem: What happens in a society, where people are willing to offer hugs to strangers in the street? What kind of pressure operates on people? What is causing this pressure? The goal of the work is to interpret the characteristics of modern society, which most importantly affect the atmosphere that makes ordinary people create their sign saying "Free Hugs" and go into the streets. The text is divided into three chapters. The first provides the first insight into the topic and a brief excursion into the short history of the phenomenon. The second, major chapter deals with the sociological interpretation of the original motivation leading to the emergence of the described phenomena - advanced level of individualization in modern society and economization and fragmentation of relationships, both in work and private spheres. The third part deals with the sociological interpretation of several phenomena, which caused a significant extension of the Free Hugs Campaign. The relevant requirements of the modern phenomenon of the Free Hugs consider a general picture of modern society,...
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Voluntary and involuntary childlessness: From relatively high birth-rate to absence of children
Hrabánková, Anežka ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Pašková, Miroslava (referee)
The aim of presented bachelor work is the problem of progressive reduction of the birth rate from its beginning up to present , when the phenomenon of childlessness is occurred relatively frequently. Intended childlessness begins to be the rightful alternative of living or reproductive strategy. At the same time the number of couples unable to deliver baby from the biological causes continues to increase. These facts weakens the position of parenthood. Subsequently the parenthood is not viewed by the society as a natural and self-evident phenomenon as it was formerly. My work also deals with the phenomenon of voluntary and involuntary childlessness, their extent in the Czech society is evaluated. The view of the society and the childless people themselves concerning this problem is also mentioned.
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The Development of Orientalism and its Form in the Contemporary World
Přibáňová, Tereza ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Horák, Vít (referee)
The bachelor thesis deals with problems of orientalism, which is considered primarily in Edward Said's definition as a power discourse in which knowledge about the Orient is created. Even today, Westerners have to rely solely on mediated information about Orient, which can be quite misleading. The thesis first defines different meanings of orientalism and the categories of West and East. The thesis presents development of orientalism in its pre- modern and modern or academic form, including criticism of Said's concept. Critique of orientalism is currently included in postcolonial criticism, therefore there is a chapter on postcolonial criticism as well, which includes part about relationship of sociology to this issue. In conclusion is discussed occidentalism, which is often seen as the opposite of orientalism, but it isn't entirely accurate. Also is analyzed the contemporary form of orientalism, which is associated mainly with attitude of the Western world (mainly U.S.) to the Islamic countries.
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The Case of Memetics
Knedla, Dalibor ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Horák, Vít (referee)
This bachelor thesis focuses on the controversial topic of memetics. Memetics is rather new science which links sociology, biology and psychology together. The central aim of memetics is to explain the cultural transfer, using the Darwinian concepts of evolution. The thesis is divided into three chapters. Each chapter deals with the different perspective of the memetic theory. The first chapter describes the theory itself and foundations of the theory, the second chapter describes problematic issues within the theory and finally, the third part describes the status of memetics on the scientific field. Keywords Memetics, meme, genetics, gene, Darwin, universal darwinism, Dawkins, culture, evolution
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Constuction of Identity in the Emotional Culture
Prýmková, Karolína ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Holeček, Tomáš (referee)
Diploma thesis Construstion of Identity in the Emotional Culture deals with possible changes in the construction of identity of man after the fall of the millenium. The thesis stems from Eva Illouz's description of society which states that our present society is unprecedently emotional and rational at the same time. The goal of this thesis is to advocate the intitial statement, that in this organization of society the main source for construction of identity is no longer the consumption of material goods as it put notable social theorists since the second half of the twentienth century. I do not state that this remarkable era is fully over now, but I would like to point out, that consumption of material goods is loosing its strength in the process of identity construction due to the overall increasing living standards and mainly due to the fragmentarization of lifestyles. Considering the unprecedently high level of penetration of our society with emotion I consider them to be the new source of identity creation.
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Approches to the Study of Culture and Social Theory
Lachmann, Filip ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Holeček, Tomáš (referee)
Sociology, social science and human sciences in general are interested in the study of culture since its inception. This concern, however, have transformed over the years and the development of individual disciplines, especially in the 20th century, where the phenomenon of culture has become one of the main indicators of social coexistence. The concept of culture itself represents a very wide range of activities, objects and characteristics tied with the human and his behavior. This work focuses on the process, during which social scientists have begun to perceive the culture no longer just a file or a store of values, but as part of power struggle, hegemony, ideology and oppression in their everyday impact on the scientific knowledge and the creation of social discourse. It notes the rise of critical theory, which arose mainly in the context of the so-called "cultural turn", starting in the postwar period. It records the development of social theory as a discipline combining several approaches, grounded in a larger frame of reference, the main aim is to highlight the difference between social science typical for modernity and more or less postmodern authors, which we nowadays consider the leading scientists and philosophers of the 20th century. This report covers the Frankfurt School of T. Adorno,...
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Sociology and Existentialism. Question of "Purpose" from an Existentialist Viewpoint
Hlaváček, Karel ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Holeček, Tomáš (referee)
Diploma thesis Sociology and Existentialism. Question of "Purpose" from an Existentialist Viewpoint deals with the problem of aim and purpose of sociology. First we want to doubt what we grasp as nonproblematic reception of attitudes on what sociology actually is, which is to be found especially in common sociological discourse. We want to accomplish this by challenging sociology to defend itself against what existentialism perceives as ultimate concern of human beings and by suggesting that in order to comply with this challenge sociology should become religious in Tillich's and Fromm's sense. Second we aim to conceptualize what purposeful sociology would mean and analyze how sociology has been loosing purpose. Third we aim to hint at what sociology should do in order to stay purposeful.
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Power aspects of social media in postmodern times
Šišláková, Hana ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Kotík, Michal (referee)
The contemporary society, in which social media are becoming increasingly important, is characterized by several essential attributes directly related to the presence of social media. First is the dynamics of networks allowing connection and disconnection of nodes without disturbing other components of the system (as in the case of hierarchy). In a network of these links information are easily and quickly spread, because importance of information in contemporary society is growing significantly and thereby multiplicity of "versions of truth" is changing the homogeneity into heterogeneity and issues are becoming fragmented. This is the starting point for studying the nature of power in social media. In the case of mass media, power was executed from a single point and the producers were clearly distinguished from the consumers of information. In social media, this distinction is blurred and producers are also becoming consumers of information. Aspects of the power of social media are taking fundamentally different nature.
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