Focusing on the case of the Czech Republic, this article contributes to the debate on the effect of territorial socioeconomic inequalities on political attitudes. The aim is to determine whether the socioeconomic characteristics of regions influence citizens' attitudes towards the political system of the Czech Republic. To this end, four dimensions of the relationship to the political system are defined, namely the legitimacy of democracy, political discontent, individual disaffection, and institutional disaffection. Using a combination of aggregate-and individual-level data, the article then examines (1) the connection between direct changes in the dimensions of the relationship to the political system and different territorial socioeconomic conditions, and (2) the connection between changes in the strength of individual sources of the given dimensions and the context of different local socioeconomic characteristics. The analyses show that a worse socioeconomic context directly reduces the perceived legitimacy of democracy. In some cases, individual effects increase in strength for the legitimacy of democracy and political discontent, while they weaken for both the dimensions of disaffection and political discontent. Furthermore, the results for the dimension of the legitimacy of democracy show that in regions with poorer socioeconomic characteristics, even the people who are generally a source of support for democracy in society are beginning to be sceptical about this type of regime.
This article presents a synthesis of empirical quantitative findings on the individual-level factors that influence the susceptibility to believe scientific and technological disinformation and the willingness to disseminate it. The review identifies determinants divided into three main categories: socioeconomic status (SES), attitudinal and value orientations, and psychological factors. Key findings indicate that the influence of formal education and economic capital is often moderated, or even overshadowed, by ideological orientation and deeper personality and psychological traits. The intentional dissemination of disinformation is strongly associated with two factors in particular that are part of psychology's Dark Triad theory: narcissism and Machiavellianism. Conversely, cognitive reflection (CRT) emerges as the strongest protective factor. Consequently, effective defence strategies must move away from simplistic fact-checking and focus on developing psychological resilience, metacognition, and critical thinking in recipients. Future research should shift from predominantly focusing on respondents via additive regression modelling towards investigating interaction and moderation effects and thematically towards examining the role of political and business elites as drivers of disinformation narratives.
Various models are used to teach environmental issues, with the potential to integrate civic and environmental education. Although these models provide valuable frameworks for teachers in Central Europe, they are rarely implemented. This article presents four such models, including the models of environmental literacy, citizen science, place-based education and biophilic education, and reviews the current state of research in this area, the main aspects of these models and the challenges involved in their implementation. Next, these models are deconstructed into their vital components and placed within the synthetic Integrated Model for Multidimensional and Civic Education. This model is based on the IMMERSE (Inquiry, Multisensory learning, Meaningful action, Environmental literacy, Reflection, Situated learning and Engagement) elements and may be more suitable for Central and Eastern European countries. This theory-driven synthesis proposes that IMMERSE be used to design longitudinal classroom experiments.
In this paper, we present the experiences of self-identified gay, lesbian, bi, and queer individuals from the one-and-a-half and second generation of Czech-Vietnamese. This ethnic group is the largest culturally distinct group in Czech society, which is otherwise quite homogeneous in terms of ethnicity and culture. The results presented in this paper are based on in-depth interviews with 19 informants, aged 19 to 38, collected in 2021 and 2022. We found that same-sex dating and relationships are rather rare in this group. We identified coming out (or lack thereof) as a crucial life event, as young Vietnamese, on a larger scale, either do not come out to their family or postpone doing so to an older age. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the conditions for coming out in this group, particularly in relation to their parents. This includes exploring ideas about gender and kinship, the conceptualisation of shame and pride within the Vietnamese diaspora, and the interdependence of second-generation Czech-Vietnamese and their parents, despite common cultural and personal estrangement. We discuss different approaches to coming out, including avoidance or neglect of coming out, or a coming out that is unrealised but tacitly understood by others.
The sovereign citizens movement that originated in the United States is one of the key threats to contemporary liberal democracy. Recent violent acts committed by the German Reichsb & uuml;rger movement demonstrated that the ideas of the sovereign citizens movement are rapidly spreading across Europe through social media. The movement is generally associated with extreme-right ideological frameworks and a specific strategy known as 'paper terrorism'. Through an analysis of diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames, we confront findings on existing movements with the reality of two such cases operating in the Czech Republic: the Legitimate Creditors of the Czech Republic and a group formed around two extreme-right influencers. Our analysis reveals that the core idea behind these movements is the same as that in other countries, as it is rooted in the delegitimisation of the state. However, the two groups differ from each other in their arguments and strategies. While the Legitimate Creditors operate primarily in the virtual sphere, which limits their mobilisation capacity, the group centred on the two influencers articulates a clearer vision of alternative legitimacy and political action. Both movements, however, share a common opposition to the judicial authorities, through which they wage a struggle against the state.
The study explored the state of the implementation of climate change education in the national school curricula of selected European countries. The initial research phase focused on analysing the presence of climate change education keywords in available European national curricula through a full-text search. The follow-up research utilised a multiple case study to investigate the scope of and the approach to the implementation of climate change education in the national curricula of the Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, and Estonia. The results of the multiple case study are discussed within the context of contemporary climate change education theories and methodologies. The findings suggest that the implementation of climate change education in the selected countries largely lacks action-oriented and socio-emotional dimensions and no example of climate change education implementation investigated in the multiple case study could be considered adequate. The implications for the sound implementation of climate change education into curricula are discussed as well.
This paper examines the waning of the anti-Polish migrant moral panic in Britain after the Brexit referendum, focusing on how a prolonged episode of moral panic lost its public intensity and legitimacy. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Polish migrants conducted in northern England and complemented by a contextual analysis of mainstream media coverage, this study traces changes in the affective framing through which Polish migrants had previously been constructed as social threats to the employment security of the indigenous population. While the panic endured for an unusually long period, its decline cannot be straightforwardly attributed to structural improvements in labour market conditions or to the realisation of post-Brexit economic promises. Rather, the findings show that once anti-Polish narratives ceased to be actively reproduced by mainstream media and political actors, collective outrage lost its coherence and mobilising force. In the aftermath of this institutional disengagement, hostility towards Polish migrants persisted only in fragmented, low-intensity forms and was largely confined to informal interactions and online spaces. By analysing this specific case of decline, this article reaffirms the relevance of the volatility parameter in Stanley Cohen's moral panic framework, highlighting the continued centrality of mainstream media and political actors in the reproduction-and dissolution-of moral panic.
Interactions between political parties and interest groups represent a crucial mechanism through which organised interests gain access to the policymaking process and parties maintain connections with societal actors. Despite a growing body of research on interest representation in Central and Eastern Europe, systematic comparative analyses of party-interest group relations in the region remain relatively limited. Czechia and Slovakia offer a valuable comparative context. Although both countries emerged from similar post-socialist political foundations, they since pursued divergent paths in democratic consolidation, party competition, state-society relations, and institutional openness, shaped partly by the rise of populist and illiberal actors. These divergences translate into distinct political conditions for interest group activity, shaping the forms of engagement available to them and the strategic repertoires they can effectively deploy. In turn, this provides the backdrop for analysing the post-dissolution evolution of interest intermediation and for understanding how interest groups seek to engage political parties in distinct institutional and political contexts. Drawing on an original survey of national-level organisations (N = 493) conducted in 2023-2024 in both countries, this article examines how organisational resources shape efforts to seek access to political parties, and how these patterns vary across different types of interest groups and political contexts. It argues that organisational capacity and political context jointly condition access-seeking behaviour in post-communist settings. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between structural conditions and agency in post-communist democracies, highlighting how variations in political development influence the channels through which organised interests attempt to exert influence.
This article examines how the broader societal discourse of individualisation permeates the field of care for older adults through the example of food provision in nursing homes and memory care units. Drawing on a critical discursive analysis of interviews with care staff, the study identifies key discourses that shape how individualisation is articulated and enacted within institutional settings. The analysis highlights how economic, organisational, and institutional factors, as well as the roles attributed to clients and their families, contribute to specific constructions of individualised food provision. The article explores how the rhetoric of individualisation is embedded in professional talk and reflects broader shifts in the governance and expectations of care.
The fragmentation of social and health care is frequently mentioned in scholarly literature as a key obstacle to the integration, quality, and accessibility of care. However, there has yet to be a systematic and comprehensive conceptualisation of this phenomenon. The term 'fragmentation' is often used implicitly, without a deeper analysis of the systemic structures and cultural barriers that sustain the fragmentation of care. This article addresses this knowledge gap and proposes a conceptualisation of the fragmentation of social and health care as a multidimensional and multilevel phenomenon. Based on a scoping review of international literature (WoS), coupled with an analysis of Czech expert and strategic documents and exploratory semi-structured interviews with professionals and practitioners, the article presents a conceptual framework of fragmentation. It identifies seven dimensions of fragmentation-(1) institutional, (2) organisational, (3) professional, (4) interpersonal, (5) operational, (6) cultural, and (7) the dimension of initiative and collaboration-and links them to different levels of the care system (macro, meso, micro). The framework is intended to serve as a tool for obtaining a deeper understanding of how and where fragmentation manifests within the structure of care. The proposed framework can be used not only for analytical and research purposes, but also as a basis for policy and organisational interventions. In the Czech context, it represents the first comprehensive attempt to systematically define this phenomenon and its dimensions.
The classic Marxist writers considered the industrial working class to be the decisive social force in the revolution and the building of communism, but they also emphasised the important role of experts and assumed that the two groups would merge in the future. The Bolsheviks took a dualistic view of the intelligentsia-they distrusted them, but at the same time recognised the need for this group (technical intelligentsia). Post-Stalinist ideology is characterised by a departure from Stalin's preference for the technical intelligentsia and the cult of the elites, and the establishment of a symbolic balance between the intelligentsia and the working class. In Czechoslovak communist ideology and practical policy, several phases can be distinguished between 1948 and 1968: initial efforts to win over the intelligentsia, the cult of the working class during the Stalinist era, and the increasingly equal status accorded to the intelligentsia from the mid-1950s onwards. In the 1960s, Czechoslovak sociology, after re-emerging from years of repression, went even further: it abandoned the idea of the leading role of the working class and considered the intelligentsia to be the most progressive social group, the one on which social modernisation (the scientific and technical revolution) depended most and that should be rewarded accordingly. By contrast, in the writings of sociologists, workers were presented as a group that should not insist on their privileged position and should accept the need for the transformation of their group, whose support would be key to the success of democratization and economic reform.
Adolescence and the transition to adulthood represent critical periods for identity formation, with a coherent and stable sense of identity being a key component of psychosocial development and functioning in different social roles throughout one's life. In their decision-making processes, individuals mainly employ three socio-cognitive strategies - informational, normative, and diffuse/avoidant - each of which can be measured by the Identity Style Inventory (ISI). However, the traditional version of this scale is too long and not particularly suitable for online surveys. This research note aims to develop and validate an ultra-short version of the ISI with a large sample of Czech adolescents aged 15-20 (N = 21,968). The analysis is based on data collected online from the first wave of the Czech Education Panel Survey (CZEPS), administered in autumn 2023. Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted during the development process. The validation and psychometric properties were evaluated in terms of reliability, convergent and criterion-related validity, and measurement invariance across gender and type of study. The results showed that the ultra-short Czech version of the ISI scale with nine items achieved good psychometric and structural quality. EFA clearly supported the three-factor structure, which was confirmed by CFA with good model fit. The reliability assessment results were consistent with those of other studies, and in terms of validity, both convergent and criterion-related validity were demonstrated by weak but theoretically consistent and meaningful associations with other measures. In terms of measurement invariance, partial scalar invariance was achieved across gender and type of study. The newly developed ultra-short nine-item version of the ISI (US-ISI-5) has been validated as a psychometrically sound and useful instrument for measuring identity processing strategies among Czech adolescents.
The Democratic Party of Socialists, Montenegro's ruling party between 1991 and 2020, celebrated communist and Titoist heritage. Through an analysis of the Montenegrin political scene, the government's actions, and comparative experiences, this paper sheds light on a phenomenon specific to Montenegro among post-communist countries, namely glorification of the communist era and its leaders, including the erection of monuments, the naming of streets, and other commemorative practices. The paper argues that various factors, such as nostalgia for a bygone era, perpetuation of a personality cult, validation of the party's own communist roots, and a retroactive interpretation of the former regime as champions of Montenegrin statehood and multiculturalism motivated the long-governing party to adopt this unusual policy. The paper also highlights the communists' role in shaping Montenegrin national identity and granting Montenegro federal status, which helped rectify the historical injustice of its annexation after World War I. In analysing the Montenegrin case, this study highlights broader trends in the post-Yugoslav Western Balkans by adopting a combination of political, sociological, and historical perspectives and examining population censuses to illustrate the ethnic diversity in former Yugoslavia and in Montenegro.
This article deals with the inequalities that can accompany participation in municipal politics. It is based on qualitative ethnographic research that took place in a Slovak village with a population of both Roma and non-Roma, and the analysis primarily focuses on the position of Roma and non-Roma women in municipal politics. The positions of participants and groups in municipal politics are viewed using an intersectional approach that focuses mainly on the analysis of power inequalities. In intersectional theory, the social identity of individuals is conceptualised as multidimensional and therefore multiple factors need to be included in the analysis of power relations. In this research, two categories were included: gender and ethnicity. The participation of Roma and non-Roma women in politics was framed by an idea of the countryside as a place that is not open to much change and in which women do not usually hold public or political roles, as their gender role is mainly associated with the domestic space. This exposes the sphere of politics as a space that is primarily occupied by men, both Roma and non-Roma, and in which women choose specific attitudes and strategies to cope with their position in a sphere that does not expect their participation.
This study examines the link between involvement in childcare and perceived time pressures among parents with at least one child up to 12 years of age in the Czech Republic. Using data from the Czech Household Panel Survey (2015), this study combines multiple indicators of subjective time pressure with time-use diary data on time spent on different types of childcare activities. Multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression models reveal the gendered link between childcare participation and the perception of time stress and time deficits in terms of family time, personal time and sleep. Long working hours contribute to time stress and a lack of personal time for both parents, although the effect is stronger for mothers. While greater total time spent caring for children increases time stress for mothers, it has no such effect on fathers. For mothers, focused care time decreased perceived time deficits with family rather than the total time spent on childcare. Additionally, mothers are more likely to report a lack of personal time, and parents of small children report a higher lack of sleep, even when controlling for the time spent in paid work and childcare. This study contributes to the research on gender disparities in unpaid family work and the outcomes of intensive parenting in the context of the Czech Republic.
The study analyses the challenges in identifying parents' preferences regarding quality compulsory education for their children. The first part presents findings from two quantitative surveys conducted on representative samples (N = 961, 1,739) of parents of preschool and school-aged children. Based on an analysis of data obtained from 26 in-depth interviews with middle-class parents, the study then illustrates four key factors that need to be considered when determining parents' educational preferences and formulating systemic measures. The results show that: (1) Parents interpret broadly defined criteria in different ways; (2) Parents' stated preferences often do not correspond with their decision-making; (3) Some key criteria are either downplayed by parents or understood differently than by researchers; (4) School choice is also influenced by irrational processes and criteria unrelated to instruction. The discussion highlights research gaps in understanding the educational preferences of Czech parents and summarises the main lessons for the academic community and policymakers.
This article examines public green spaces in housing estates in Central Europe, using Prague as an example. The research leverages a dataset derived from a survey conducted among residents of housing estates in Prague that were built between the 1960s and the 1980s and compares the survey results with data collected in the inner city. This article asks how people who live in Prague conceptualise public space and questions whether they consider public green spaces in housing estates to be public spaces. Based on field data, it interprets how residents of Prague use such spaces, what limitations and shortcomings they see in them, what changes they would make to them and whether they would also be willing to participate in cultivating public green spaces. The research reveals how data gathered from people living in housing estates differ from data on the inner city and other areas. Most such data are quantitative, having been generated via the coding of open-ended questions and interpreted based on observations. Prague serves as an example with which to explore similar issues in other housing estates built in the period from the 1960s through to the 1980s for a wide segment of the population. The findings of this case study are comparable to the situation in other Central European cities, where the real estate prices are rising and residential housing estates continue to provide homes for a socioeconomically diverse population.
