Sociálne reprezentácie o "dobre" jednotlivca a spoločnosti
Social Representations Of The Individual and The Collective Well-Being

Summary/Abstract: Social Representations Of The Individual And The Community Well-Being: Comparison Of The Empirical Data From 1993 And 1995. The aim of the research presented here was to examine if the values of individualism (defined as human dignity, capacity to think and act autonomously, to take responsibility, etc.) were preserved under communism or not, whether there are some differences between generations or between individuals with different level of education. The results were discussed in relation to theory of social representation. Respondents (N=296) were asked to consider the importance of 38 political and economic terms in regard (i) to the well-being of the individual and (ii) to the well-being of the community. The terms related to the individualism were expected to be judged more positively by younger than middle generation, by more than less educated persons. A shift toward stronger support of the individual values between judgement in 1993 and 1995 was expected too. In general, from the perspective of the well-being of the individual, the terms related to the individualism (human rights, freedom, personal responsibility, self interest, personal security and character) obtained highest rank of support along with justice and peace. The equality and fraternity, values supported by communist ideology, received much lower support. No differences between judgements in 1993 and 1995 were found. Judgement of personal responsibility differentiated the middle and young generation as well as respondents with higher and basic education. It was proved that individuals with higher level of education valued personal responsibility higher than those with basic education. However, contrary to the expectation, middle generation valued personal responsibility higher than young generation and no other indication of stronger individualism in young generation was found. The other differences due to the effect of education were found; more educated persons rated higher the importance of self determination, private enterprise and of democracy. Differences in the evaluation of democracy due to education were more salient in case of the middle generation than of the young generation. Contrary, respondents with basic education valued significantly higher the equality, fraternity, public opinion, state, nation and Slovaks. Judgements of the well-being of the community did not substantially differ from the judgements of the individual well-being. Freedom and human rights were among those terms with the highest rank of the importance together with justice, peace, law and order, state and democracy. It was found again that (i) the respondents with basic education consider the equality and fraternity more important than the respondents with higher education and (ii) middle generation valued personal responsibility higher than young generation. No differences in individual values were found between judgement in 1993 and 1995 from both perspectives.

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