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Citizenship and culture
Grznár, Miroslav ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This theoretical essay offers a point of view on a citizenship and so called "civil society" based on a strong programme in cultural theory, which treats culture as an analyticly autonomus sphere. It shows that an increased interest in a term "civil society" is connected with certain actual political issues. Recent theoretic conceptions as well as research practices focus on the topic mostly treats "civil society" as a subsytem of society or a sum of organizations beyond spheres of a state and a market. That leads to an analytic pasivization of an agent. One of works by Jürgen Habermas offers a much more culturaly sensitive model of citizenship based on a historical review of developement of civil movements in England, France and Germany. This type of identity is not easy to find in the Czech history. Bud we can find a few alternative and hostile types of identity and we show that they are able to accomodete in the democratic system in a form of cultural herritage and so they can be maintained even by generations without an experience of a communism. A source of these identities is concentrated around traditional Cczech autostereotype of a "little Chzech person" in a forms of: nationalism, privatism and narrow-minded opportunism. They are an obstracle for development of a real civic culture.
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Rupert Sheldrake and scientific controversy
Hrouda, Jan ; Holeček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee)
Closer look on scientific controversies points at the limits of contemporary thinking and scientific understanding of the world. It places knowledge into a historical context and opens up the question of dominant paradigms. This text discusses the social and historical conditions of scientific controversy aroused by Rupert Sheldrake's hypothesis of morphic resonance. In the first part we summarize relevant findings of sociology of science, opinions of a character of controversies and consensus in science. Next follows analysis of the controversy. Hypothesis itself is introduced, along with reactions it generated among collegues. In these texts we focus on statements referring to paradigm or more generally to discourse. Then we trace origins of this discourse to elucidate its historical conditionality, its "weight" and power, but also changes it has gone through. In the final part we discuss the difficulties related to overstepping a paradigm/discourse, linked with socially constructed concepts of space, time, matter and causality inherent in paradigms and discourses.
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The Social Making of the Illusion of Hospitality
Hajdáková, Iveta ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee)
This thesis is based on a research conducted in a luxury restaurant in Prague. It focuses on service work performed by workers in the restaurant, and examines how service work contributes to the production of luxury hospitality. The thesis broadens anthropological and sociological understanding of work. Being focused on service work, it responds to the increasing importance of services in modern economy. Data gathered through participant observation and interviews are analyzed using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the economy of symbolic goods. The analysis reveals elements of gift exchange that define luxury service. Drawing upon Rachel Sherman's concept of entitlement, it deciphers inequalities between service producers and service consumers, which are produced in the performance of hospitality. The study also focuses on workers' strategies of authority and power that they use in order to make sense of their work and to cope with their subordinated roles.
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Multiculturalism in England
Martinová, Michaela ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Volek, Martin (referee)
Bachelor thesis 'Multiculturalism in England' deals with the phenomenon, which has been a product of modern society since the second half of the nineteenth century. The politics of multiculturalism is linked to England because of the large waves of immigration after World War II. These waves affected England, primarily from the cultural point. Diverse cultural heritage had a strong impact on national identity. Therefore we can call England like a multicultural state. First I define the concept of multiculturalism. Historical context is based on texts by prominent sociologists dealing with immigration in England, such as Evans, R. Lowe and N. Lowe, with whom we learn about the arrival of immigrants to England and about the politics that accompanied with the arrival of immigrants. Then is introduced the current situation, which leads to a discussion of national identity. For text editing, I used the method of compiling the text, because it is pointed out that the situation in Great Britain multiculturalist approach. The summary paper is showing how the influx of immigrants settled England and how they were affected by the current state of social policy. Fact that other publications on the development of multiculturalism in England is available in Czech, and I drew from a very important sociological figures,...
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