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From Adorno to Habermas: A Study on the Relationship of Critical Theory and Religion
Hlaváček, Karel ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Halík, Tomáš (referee) ; Hauser, Michael (referee)
In this text, the relation of critical theory and religion is analysed, comparing Jürgen Habermas's late philosophy with the philosophy of his predecessor Theodor W. Adorno. The question I ask is: What changes has the relation of critical theory and religion undergone in the transition from Adorno's thinking to that of his successor? As I try to answer this question, I develop a specific understanding of Adorno's philosophy as a "contemplative eschatology", and perform an in-depth study of how, why, and with what consequences it has changed to a frame oriented towards reaching understanding. In so doing, I point out the ambivalence which the turn towards understanding breeds, and suggest the religious motives discovered in Adorno's work deserve further attention.
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Sociological analysis of discursive representations of happiness
Šrám, Kristián ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee)
The master thesis seeks to analyze discursive representations of happiness present in the Czech Republic. Analytical conceptualization of happiness is based upon the two prominent views on happiness - hedonism and eudaimonism. Hedonic perspective situates the issue of achieving happiness into the context of pleasure seeking activities while eudaimonic perspective relates happiness to concepts such as self-actualization, fulfilment of one's potential, and similar topics broadly connected to personal growth and search for meaning. Concepts of hedonism and eudaimonism help to reduce the abstract nature of happiness. The thesis identifies three types of discursive representations of happiness - neoliberal, spiritual / religious, and pop-psychological representations. Particular representations define happiness differently. However, there are similarities and interdependencies in the aspects of how the hedonism and eudaimonism are being used. Thus, there are interactions between particular representations. Eudaimonism is more dominant in every representation in the sense of general claim that true (longlasting) happiness is never taken-for-granted, and that it must be cultivated. Representations that lean heavily towards eudaimonism were also associated with stronger normative dimension that might serve to...
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Gastronauts of Eastern Europe: Experiencing and Digesting Luxury Gastronomy in the Czech Republic
Hajdáková, Iveta ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee) ; Eyal, Gil (referee)
This dissertation is based on a research of luxury gastronomy conducted in two luxury restaurants in Prague. The main focus of analysis is on gastronomic experience as an affective commodity and a vehicle of social, economic and political transformation. The study examines how affect is produced, commodified and how value is generated in luxury "experiential gastronomy." It also analyzes the role of affect in transformation of individuals, the society, consumption practices, entrepreneurial practices, and labor. It shows how experts on gastronomy educate the public on appropriate consumption practices and eating habits. Eating and dining serve as "technologies of the self" (Rose 2004) through which individual and social health and well-being are achieved. Cultivated affect becomes a vehicle of the "purification from socialism" (Eyal 2003) and also plays an important part on the formation of ethical consumer and citizen (Muehlebach 2011). Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Doping in Fitness nad Recreational Sport
Miček, Jakub ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Tuček, Milan (referee)
Bibliografický záznam MIČEK, Jakub. Doping ve fitness a rekreační sport: obsahová analýza českých videí na YouTube. Praha, 2016. 48 s. Bakalářská práce (Bc.) Univerzita Karlova. Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut sociologických důvodů. Katedra sociologie. Vedoucí bakalářské práce PhDr. Mgr. Jan Balon, Ph.D. Abstract Fitness and YouTube are very popular areas of entertainment these days. Despite the touchiness of this topic, there are many videos about doping being published on YouTube. Majority of the research dealing with doping is oriented on top-level athletes and the area of recreational sport with much larger membership is omitted. Since the ways how to gather information are very limited for recreational athletes compared to professional athletes, YouTube happens to be very suitable field for this purpose, but it hasn't been scientifically explored that much yet. In this paper I examine czech youtube videos, which aim to deal with the relationship of fitness and doping. I analyse videos of various authors via content analysis. My work interprets statements and information, which reach the viewers. I use these information further to work with hypotesis: The authors of the youtube videos can motivate the viewers to use doping. I also analyse if the statements about doping use in videos can be abused in...
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Social Construction of Species superiority
Klicnar, Filip ; Vandrovcová, Tereza (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee)
This thesis charts the social construction of species superiority in the Euro-Atlantic civilizational area. The goal is to describe the process of construction of this superiority and simultaneously to describe the impact of it. The beginning of the species superiority was domestication of the wild animals. Second defining moment was the transition from a traditional into industrial society, in which the animals where materialized and considered to be an object in trading relationships, as well as the belief in legitimate use of animals for economic purposes in the society. This belief is thoroughly irrational. Throughout the process of reality construction the society begun to perceive the given status as natural and right. In order to escape the question of ethical contradiction it has crowded out the negative aspects of that reality from the perception of its members, in which some psychological mechanisms are helping individuals to escape the reality. The final chapter of this thesis charts the conditions that have made the Holocaust possible and on which our modern rational-economic system lays ground. These conditions are being preserved in the "nature" of the economic system itself.
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Housework and Free Time, Contradictory Elements of Private Sphere?
Černá, Zuzana ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Marková Volejníčková, Romana (referee)
HOUSEWORK AND FREE TIME, CONTRADICTORY ELEMENTS OF PRIVATE SPHERE? Thesis author: Zuzana Černá Thesis supervisor: PhDr. Mgr. Jan Balon, Ph.D. Abstract This thesis examines a relationship between housework and free time. I used the qualitative interviewing which can help us better understand this issue. In contemporary society, free time is an important element of daily life. We are concerned with what it means to us, we evaluate its quality and analyze how it affects our life satisfaction. On the contrary, the housework represents duty and a less popular activity in general. These two elements form time that we spend outside of paid work. In this study I try to explain what housework represents, how it affects our free time and whether these two elements conflict because they together constitute our private life, despite their different nature. The housework becomes more important and demanding during parenthood when it merges with childcare. An important aspect is division of housework between the partners, especially when they can substitute each other. Such division appears to be more efficient and can help both parents gain more free time that happens to be precious during the parenthood. During my research I also found out that housework does not have to be necessarily connected with a negative meaning,...
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Right to the city and spatial plan
Orcígr, Václav ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Maršálek, Jan (referee)
This paper focuses on the concept of right to the city and tries to link it to the topic of spatial planning in Prague. It introduces the view on the world of global neoliberalism, which comes from critical social geography and was elaborated especially by David Harvey, but originates from the French philosopher Henri Lefebvre. Through the optics of this approach the paper tries to grasp the complex problems of spatial planning on the example of Prague. Through a qualitative questioning of the representatives of CSO's, the paper attempts to show the relevance of the concept for public participation in decision making in urban development. The thesis presents a fundamental critical frame of theories, which evaluates the condition of society in the stage of late neoliberalism, and also the basic approaches to the city in social theory including the context of post-socialism. From these it continues to the analysis of urban space presenting a belief, which gives to the inhabitants of a city the right to make decisions about its shape instead of the capital. It puts emphasis on demarcation of the role of social movements and also the concept of place attachment, which becomes one of the key determinants for the involvement of inhabitants into the processes of urban development. The paper uses the...
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The Horse and Its Rider: Enacting the Actors of the Interaction
Ožanová, Sarah ; Grygar, Jakub (advisor) ; Balon, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis focuses on the horse-human relationship. It strives for answering the question how horse and human enact within this relationship and mutual interaction as the actors, which means active subjects that can participate in the relationship. The text tries to analyse how this relationship is influenced by other non-humans, such as the objects in the stable or the literature about horses. The text explores this through the lens of chosen theoretical and methodological concepts (the multispecies ethnography, Eduardo Kohn's anthropology of life or anthropology beyond the human, Donna Haraway's research of the non-humans and especially Bruno Latour's symmetrical anthropology and actor-network theory) that reach beyond the human and contain animals, objects and other non-humans. The research is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with the stable member. The analysis shows that the conditions of the horse-human relationship are mostly defined by the human. The human sets up the barriers within witch the horse can interfere partly (and probably unintentionally) in the mutual relationship by its reactions. The lifeless non-humans can substitute the human role of restricting the horse in this relationship. They can also reflect or reproduce certain notions or...
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