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Gleaning, trash picking, scavenging: Dumpster diving and symbolic boundaries between clean and unclean
Kubatová, Marie ; Čada, Karel (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
The author deals with the phenomenon of dumpster diving. Being focused on those divers who are used to dumpster dive not being pressed to it by their financial situation, she concentrates on their definition of purity and their way of dealing with symbolic boundaries of clean and unclean. After summarising social-environmental and social scientific background of the phenomenon in context of the theoretical frame based on Mary Douglas and her book about purity and danger the author presents a qualitative analysis of participant observation and in- depth interviews with informants who dumpster dive voluntarily. Based on quantitatively and representatively tested public opinion on dumpster diving she points both the colourful composition of dumpster divers' motives and ideological believes and their reflection and norm- based boundaries categorization that is connected to food they are used to eat. In connection with informants' conception of food value the author argues that through inspiring power of the first dumpster diving experience informants' understanding and dealing with those boundaries have changed. Nevertheless, she stresses that despite being convinced their way of consumption is right and thus pure the informants tend to apply and present themselves by pattern of conduct that...
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Medico ergo sum. Construction of symbolic inequalities and boundaries between physicians and healers /and their professional identity
Dostálová, Lenka ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Grygar, Jakub (referee)
My diploma thesis deals with the relationship and more specifically with the boundaries and inequalities between scientific medicine and alternative medicine from the constructionistic and interactionistic point of view. It explores how the boundaries are constructed by the representatives of biomedicine on one side and the representatives of alternative medicine on the other side. This thesis is based on a qualitative research - semi-standardised interviews with members of both systems of medicine. The state and the role of alternative medicine in czech setting is presented to the reader and the construction of boundaries in this context is explored. The thesis shows that the representatives of biomedicine build boundaries mainly based on moral aspects, while the representatives of alternative medicine have larger and more varied repertoire of boundaries. The fact is probably given by structural conditions and the role of alternative medicine - while the representatives of biomedicine "only" want to maintain the status quo, the representatives of alternative medicine struggle to change their situation, which requires bigger effort.
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Parenting in the context of cultural inequalities: how parents justify their child-rearing strategies
Šulcová, Zuzana ; Frantová, Veronika (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
This thesis is written from the perspective of cultural sociology and focuses on middle-class parents and justification of their child-rearing decisions. It describes how parents choose and evaluate the institutions their children spend time at, how they "other" parents with different values and how they relate to concerted cultivation - a type of parenting style which currently dominates the middle-class context. This parenting style (or ideal) puts a great deal of pressure on middle-class parents and it causes a symbolic war among them: a war for acknowledgment and a certain position in the cultural space. This thesis describes who the participants "other", which child-rearing strategies participants approve of, what values are crucial for them and what problems they deal with. Furthermore, four main differences between the participants' approach and the concerted cultivation approach were identified: emphasis on friendship, emphasis on balance between activities and rest, emphasis on fitting in with the majority and emphasis on approval of certain authoritarian methods such as imposing punishments, applying restrictions and issuing directives.
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Gleaning, trash picking, scavenging: Dumpster diving and symbolic boundaries between clean and unclean
Kubatová, Marie ; Čada, Karel (advisor) ; Hájek, Martin (referee)
The author deals with the phenomenon of dumpster diving. Being focused on those divers who are used to dumpster dive not being pressed to it by their financial situation, she concentrates on their definition of purity and their way of dealing with symbolic boundaries of clean and unclean. After summarising social-environmental and social scientific background of the phenomenon in context of the theoretical frame based on Mary Douglas and her book about purity and danger the author presents a qualitative analysis of participant observation and in- depth interviews with informants who dumpster dive voluntarily. Based on quantitatively and representatively tested public opinion on dumpster diving she points both the colourful composition of dumpster divers' motives and ideological believes and their reflection and norm- based boundaries categorization that is connected to food they are used to eat. In connection with informants' conception of food value the author argues that through inspiring power of the first dumpster diving experience informants' understanding and dealing with those boundaries have changed. Nevertheless, she stresses that despite being convinced their way of consumption is right and thus pure the informants tend to apply and present themselves by pattern of conduct that...
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Crisis and the construction of home: Narrative accounts of the Financial crisis on the Czech housing market
Samec, Tomáš ; Grygar, Jakub (advisor) ; Čada, Karel (referee)
This text deals with the Financial crises from the perspective of everyday lived experience. It presents the analysis of narrative accounts of lay people who were active on the Czech housing market during or after the Crises. Theoretically rooted in the in the framework of narrative analysis, the text widens the mainstream economical perceptions of Crises bringing the concepts of emotions, ethos and symbolic boundaries into account. On the behalf of the narratives of Crises, the narratives of the process of social construction of home proved to be significant for the narrator's identity construction and presentation. Text presents three main findings a) Crises is trope, which is used as such in the narratives b) moral evaluation, which might be coined as the bourgeois morality ethos prove their significance in the narratives c) housing choices being based both on "rational" and "irrational" factors i. e. emotions, moral evaluations. The main interpretation of the narrative accounts suggests the crucial importance of the narratives of social construction of home for the expression of being independent, capable, responsible and thus successful person. The ability to express the capability of securing what is culturally regarded as "good and ideal housing" to the family, represents ones ability to...
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World of Pragues Mothers on parental leave..
Brennová, Martina ; Šanderová, Jadwiga (advisor) ; Grygar, Jakub (referee)
The thesis deals with choices made by women on maternity leave living in Prague, predominantly in the area of work and family life. Women's choices do not always represent their preferences and are strongly influenced by the institutional conditions and family interests. Women's preferences are also determined by the idea of maternity preferred by them- Another focus of the thesis is the construction of symbolic boundaries between mothers and childless women. Mothers differentiate themselves from childless women based on moral criteria and from each other based on the understanding of motherhood. Mothers tend to describe maternity leave as a happy period and do not think of it as of a loss of freedom or a sacrifice. However, they admit that long-term maternity leave is stereotypical and can induce feelings of isolation. For that reason, a part of women try to break free, at least partially, from the childcare and return into the realm of adults.
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Medico ergo sum. Construction of symbolic inequalities and boundaries between physicians and healers /and their professional identity
Dostálová, Lenka ; Hájek, Martin (advisor) ; Grygar, Jakub (referee)
My diploma thesis deals with the relationship and more specifically with the boundaries and inequalities between scientific medicine and alternative medicine from the constructionistic and interactionistic point of view. It explores how the boundaries are constructed by the representatives of biomedicine on one side and the representatives of alternative medicine on the other side. This thesis is based on a qualitative research - semi-standardised interviews with members of both systems of medicine. The state and the role of alternative medicine in czech setting is presented to the reader and the construction of boundaries in this context is explored. The thesis shows that the representatives of biomedicine build boundaries mainly based on moral aspects, while the representatives of alternative medicine have larger and more varied repertoire of boundaries. The fact is probably given by structural conditions and the role of alternative medicine - while the representatives of biomedicine "only" want to maintain the status quo, the representatives of alternative medicine struggle to change their situation, which requires bigger effort.
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Manifestation of Discursive Hierarchies in Consumption in the Context of Financial Crisis
Šrám, Kristián ; Chytková, Zuzana (advisor) ; Tahal, Radek (referee)
This thesis seeks to analyze how social position is negotiated by particular consumption practices. Thesis is theoretically based upon social-constructivist claims that reality is a social construct that comprises of continuously negotiated meanings. That implies that observed phenomena, such as among others consumption and social position, are seen as constituted by the cultural and symbolic dimensions of society. Methodological basis of the thesis is qualitative research. In the context of consumer behavior research I follow the research stream of consumer culture theory. Key findings of the study are that discourses on consumption are partially determined by social position while higher classes are comparatively more reflexive in their interpretations of consumption. However, social boundaries are not strictly given which creates a space for negotiating one`s social position. That might be accomplished by reinterpretation of social position. Prominent strategies of such reinterpretations were defined by discourses of neoliberalism and egalitarism. Another option consists of transgressing the economic boundaries by utilizing cultural capital. However, in the Czech society there has not yet been developed a clear consensus on what cultural capital consists of - that creates even more potential for negotiating one`s own social position.
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