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State social policies on material need in Czech republic and United Kingdom
Kruml Singerová, Sylvie ; Tomeš, Igor (advisor) ; Víšek, Petr (referee)
(in English): The theme of this thesis is State social policy on material need in the Czech republic and the United Kingdom. The historical part describes the main trends in state social policies on material need in both countries and their development since 1945 with focus on benefit systems. The second part describes in comparative perspective benefit systems and recent reforms of means - tested minimum income benefits, support benefits for households on low income like housing benefits and basic conditions their claimants (especially those "out of work") have to meet. In both countries, governments who started their terms in office in 2010, initiated reforms with intentions to simplify the systems, intesify the work incentives and to reduce the spendings on means- tested benefits. The reader is introduced to basic concepts and main aspects of these reforms and critical views and comments, expressed about their implementation.
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Poverty and social exclusion: an ethical challenge for the Czech society
KOLÁŘOVÁ, Lucie
The thesis deals with the role of the state and society in their attitudes to poverty and social exclusion. The introductory part aims at characterising the phenomenon of poverty and social exclusion, and deals with the issue of how the society perceives poverty. It focuses on the concept of the culture of poverty, and attention is given to the need of solidarity, social justice and the social state. The following part of my thesis deals with the extent of poverty and social exclusion in the Czech Republic, as well as possibilities of a social safety net in the Czech Republic. It describes particular examples of the manifestation of social exclusion and poverty in the Czech society, especially in the sphere of housing, opportunities in the labour market and falling into destructive debts. It sheds light on the situation of Romanies as the worst affected population group. The current situation in the Czech Republic shows that the attitude of the society to poverty as a personal fault and failure, impedes mutual solidarity, and generates strategies connected with repression that fail to understand the causes of poverty. For this reason, they cannot be adequately efficient. The society should react to, consider and efficiently solve poverty-related problems. Inspiration may be found in Christian ethics and its concept of human dignity.
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