Sociology’s Rhythms: Temporal Dimensions of Knowledge Production

From the temporal perspective, this article examines shifts in the productionof sociological knowledge. It identifies two kinds of rhythms of sociology: 1) that of sociological standpoints and techniques of investigation and 2) that of contemporary academic life and culture. The article begins by discussing some of the existing research strategies designed to "chase"high-speed society. Some, predominantly methodological, currents are explored and contrasted with the "slow" instruments of sociological analysis composed of different, yet complementary, modes of inquiry. Against this background, the article stresses that it is through the tension between fast and slow modes of inquiry that sociology reproduces itself. The subsequent part explores the subjective temporal experience in contemporary academia. It is argued that increasing administration and auditing of intellectual work significantly coshapes sociological knowledge production not only by requiring academics to work faster due to an increasing volume of tasks, but also by normalizing time-pressure.The article concludes by considering the problem as to whether the increasing pace of contemporary academic life has detrimental consequences for the more organic reproductive rhythms of sociology

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

The notion of social class in Czech political discourse

The article studies the discourse on social class that emerged around the Czech parliamentary election of 2010. The authors look at Czech discourse from the perspective of the wider discussion about the role that the notion of class plays in post-communist societies. While some researchers argue that social class is absent as a category within post-communist political discourse, other researchers report the existence of derogatory discourse on the lower classes and even consistent symbolic boundaries between classes. This analysis contributes to the discussion by offering recent evidence of both the rejection and the use of class-based classification in the discourse. The authors argue that the rejection of the notion of class goes hand in hand with the symbolic division of society into class-like groups. They illustrate how these divisions are tied to the idea of a legitimate political subjectivity and conclude by noting similarities to contemporary ‘Western’ discourse on social class

Conflicts, integration, hybridization of subcultures: An ecological approach to the case of queercore

This paper investigates the case study of queercore, providing a socio-historical analysis of its subcultural production, in the terms of what Michel Foucault has called archaeology of knowledge (1969). In particular, we will focus on: the self-definition of the movement; the conflicts between the two merged worlds of punk and queer culture; the \u201cinternal-subcultural\u201d conflicts between both queercore and punk, and between queercore and gay\lesbian music culture; the political aspects of differentiation. In the conclusion, we will offer an innovative theoretical proposal about the interpretation of subcultures in ecological and semiotic terms, combining the contribution of the American sociologist Andrew Abbot and of the Russian semiologist Jurij Michajlovi\u10d Lotma

Conflict Types in Hungarian Film History

The article introduces the collective research project entitled The Social History of Hungarian Cinema, 1931–2015, executed by the staff of Film Studies Department Eötvös Loránd University. This data-driven research aims to examine how and why Hungarian films have changed over time. Using the case study of conflict types in the plots of Hungarian films this study discusses the methodological problems of longitudinal explanations of change in Hungarian film history (periodization and dividing film between genre-based film and auteur films/art cinema). Based on the analysis of statistics and trends, the study presents the most important types of conflict in Hungarian film history. With respect to the political turning points and the periodization of Hungarian film history, the article states that each of the three broad periods (1931–1944, 1945–1989, 1990–2015) is characterized by its own distinctive set of prominent conflict types. The pre-1945 era is characterized by a massive number of love conflicts, the socialist period by the highest rate of political conflicts (and the lowest rates of love and crime conflicts), and the post-socialist period by a high rate of crime and generational conflicts. Furthermore, by analysing the connections between conflict types and genres, the study reveals recurring patterns and trends of shorter periods: it shows how the range of conflicts narrowed considerably over the 1970s and discusses the extent to which this is related to the dominance of auteur films in the era

Exploring and explaining participation in local opposition: brown coal mining in Horní Jiřetín

This book summarizes a three-year research project on local opposition to coal mining in the Northwestern part of the Czech Republic. The research focused on the relational dimensions of the opposition movement and the political context in which the movement operates

Three social science disciplines in Central and Eastern Europe: handbook on economics, political science and sociology (1989-2001)

Content: Ulrike Becker, Max Kaase, Gabor Klaniczay, and Vera Sparschuh: Social Sciences in Central and Eastern Europe on the Verge of EU Enlargement (7-10); Andrei Plesu: Financing Difference. Fostering the Social Sciences in the Field of Tension Between Homogenization and Differentiation (12-16); Elemer Henkiss: Brilliant Ideas or Brilliant Errors? (17-24); Janos Matyas Kovacs: Business as (Un)usual (26-33); Mitko Dimitrov: Bulgaria (34-49); Frantisek Turnovec: Czech Republic (50-64); Tiia Püss: Estonia (65-82); Laszlo Csaba: Hungary (83-101); Raita Karnite: Latvia (102-120); Linas Cekanavicius: Lithuania (121-134); Tadeusz Kowalik: Poland (135-151); Paul Dragos Aligica: Romania (152-167); Julius Horvath: Slovakia (168-186); Joze Mencinger: Slovenia (187-194); Hans-Jürgen Wagener: Demand and Supply of Economic Knowledge in Transition Countries (195-203); Hans-Dieter Klingemann: Political Science in Central and Eastern Europe: National Development and International Integration (206-212); Georgi Karasimeonov: Bulgaria (213-225); Jan Holzer and Pavel Pseja: Czech Republic (226-245); Raivo Vetik: Estonia (246-257); Mate Szabo: Hungary (258-274); Andris Runcis: Latvia (275-285); Algis Krupavicius: Lithuania (286-305); Stanislaw Gebethner and Radoslaw Markowski: Poland (306-321); Daniel Barbu: Romania (322-342); Darina Malova and Silvia Mihalikova: Slovakia (343-357); Danica Fink-Hafner: Slovenia (358-374); Pal Tamas: Followers or Activists? Social Scientists in the Reality Shows of Transformation (376-385); Nikolai Genov: Bulgaria (386-404); Michal Illner: Czech Republic (405-424); Mikk Titma: Estonia (425-436); Denes Nemedi and Peter Robert: Hungary (437-451); Aivars Tabuns: Latvia (452-466); Anele Vosyliute: Lithuania (467-483); Janusz Mucha and Pawel Zalecki: Poland (484-501); Maria Larionescu: Romania (502-517); Zuzana Kusa, Bohumil Buzik, Ludovit Turcan and Robert Klobucky: Slovakia (518-535); Frane Adam and Matej Makarovic: Slovenia (536-547); Piotr Sztompka: The Condition of Sociology in East-Central Europe (548-556); Mihaly Sarkany: Cultural and Social Anthropology in Central and Eastern Europe (558-566); Thomas Kucera and Olga Kucerova: Population science in Central and Eastern Europe: Implications for Research and Practice (567-577); Marie-Claude Maurel: Central European Geography and the Post-Socialist Transformation. A Western Point of View (578-587); Grazyna Skapska: Law and Society in a Natural Laboratory: the Case of Poland in the Broader Context of East-Central Europe (588-603)