Writings about Budapest
More...Márton László–Bodor Béla–Bazsányi Sándor: Három bírálat egy könyvről (Térey János: A Nibelung-lakópark) Three critics on a book (János Térey: Nibelung Residential District) Fenyő Ervin: Történelmi dokumentumok nyomában (Magyarország története a 19. században. Szerk. Gergely András; Magyarország története a 19. században. Szöveggyűjtemény. Szerk. Pajkossy Gábor) Following Historical Documents (History of Hungary in the 19th Century. Ed. by András Gergely; History of Hungary in the 19th Century. Chrestomathy. Ed. by Gábor Pajkossy) Pór Péter: A lehetetlen tanúságtétel (Ruth Klüger: weiter leben, Eine Jugend) The Impossible Testimony
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Keywords: homo economicus; market; family;
This article undertakes the question of „economic man” in context of postmodern philosophy. The purpose of it is to analyze current understanding of man in market surrounding and his family relations. In the beginning the genesis of homo economicus model is presented and attempt is made to find answer to the question of its contemporary meaning and “family situation”. Then the article shows why we should resign from using this model and substitute it with homo socioeconomicus. The very concept of homo economicus – well known and often discussed – although reduces human being, in the light of postmodern thinking seems to relive. That is why it is necessary to reflect if there is similarity between “economic man” and the vision of man preferred by postmodernism. One of the proofs for it may be current situation of family which is not supported by postmodern homo economicus concept. It seems to be logical consequence when we realize that individualism of “economic man” is strengthened by postmodern antipathy towards social institutions.
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Keywords: galenosphere; structured environment of silence; ethics of galenosphere; education “for silence”;
Galenosphere is an environment of silence. The paper addresses the issue of the essence and significance of galenosphere. To this end, it presents the structure and functioning of galenosphere, i.e. its two crucial components. Moreover, the structure of galenosphere includes static and dynamic elements. The latter determine the functioning of this type of environment. Eight most important sectors that affect the operation of galenosphere were identified. Some of them (the culture of language, noise elimination, creating an environment promoting silence and a prayer for silence) contribute to the emergence of a structured environment of silence, whereas others (positive attitude towards calming down, concentration of the mind and emotions, inner concentration and the ability to be silent) constitute components which directly participate in the formation of an environment of silence. A structured environment of silence is the most effective in operation. The paper points out various advantages offered to the human being by a structured galenosphere. The most significant ones include: successful self-improvement, improvement of spoken and written language skills, effective pedagogic activities, establishing good relationships with other people and getting a deeper insight into the sense of life. The discussion leads to the conclusion that the human being should be provided with optimal working conditions and conditions for development in various areas by the formation of a structured galenosphere (in the family, at school, in the office, etc.).
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Keywords: responsible lobbying; CSR;
Lobbying in the contemporary world is a recognized instrument for implementing citizen’s right to be represented and to be heard by the authorities. The goal of lobbying is to pay authorities’ attention to important problems of citizens and organizations, to present various points of view, to provide adequate information and consequently to contribute to the public good. Nevertheless the social image of lobbyists and lobbying has never been positive and an extreme opinion says that muddy and immoral lobbying is threatening for democracy. This opinion is specially significant in the context of corporate lobbying and because of this various initiatives aimed at restoring a proper place of lobbying in the democratic system are undertaken. The paper presents such initiative, namely an attempt to treat responsible lobbying as one of the CSR instrument. The author shows both opportunities and limitations of this approach.
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Keywords: public administration; tansformation; Poland;
The article focusses on a critical analysis of basic problems that contemporary administration faces in the course of its transformation. The Author has stressed the role of the tendency of economize, citizen participation and deregulation of law. The Author has also shown how the reforms of the Polish administration reflect general globalization and europeization tendencies. He has also distinguished certain paculiarities of the Polish administrative transformation.
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Keywords: social market economy; crisis; globalization
In the context of globalization processes, the social market economy (SME) is in the crisis. Reflection on the features of that model is closely related with the scientific dispute over its designation. It could be perceived as a theory, political program, sort of economic order, structure, model or system of economic and social development. Sometimes it is seemed as an idealistic vision or even political utopia (Niklas Luhmann). Others (eg. Peter Koslowski) argue that this system has come to an end. In favor of this thesis they refer to various arguments: lack of consensus on redistribution, demographic crisis, depletion of solidarity resources, intergenerational imbalance that threatens the retirement systems and many others. Despite the range of these arguments, it appears that the SME still has a specific potential that could be freed. Combating difficulties associated with globalization processes such as: dominance of the economy over politics, ‘tax starvation’ of the welfare state, marginalization of trade unions, dispersion of ownership and its detachment from responsibility, ‘financialization’ of economy, dominance of ‘casino capitalism’, could help to heal SME. The crisis on financial markets might be paradoxically an opportunity to return to the ethical foundations of the SME.
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Keywords: trust; enterprise; competitive market;
The subject of the article is the trust as a specific soft value which could be considered as an important aspect of the management process. The article is an attempt of the theoretical analysis of notions such as ”trust” and provides characteristics of some management aspects, especially the personnel policy in which trust is a basic value for building an employee’s engagement and interpersonal relations. The article ends with conclusions in which the author tries to find the answer to following question: is it possible to build the enterprise’s financial advantage basing on the trust.
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Keywords: mobbing; ethics; management; mobbing victim;
The positive company image and its good reputation are usually results of ethical and honest behaviour towards employees and may cause competitiveness and benefits increase, customer satisfaction and new job places creating. However it occurs often in dynamically developing firms that ethical norms are not kept and this process is observed by lack of equal chances to get a job – people without connections remain without work. Due to different research the very serious problem is a phenomena of mobbing. Psychological terror or mobbing in working life involves hostile and unethical communication which is directed in a systematic manner by one or more individuals, mainly toward one individual, who, due to mobbing, is pushed into a helpless and defenceless position and held there by means of continuing mobbing activities. These actions occur on a very frequent basis (statistical definition: at least once a week) and over a long period of time (statistical definition: at least six months´ duration). Because of the high frequency and long duration of hostile behaviour, this maltreatment results in considerable mental, psychosomatic and social misery.
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Keywords: social acceptance earnings; inequalities; econometric model; Poland;
In our studies we deal with estimating of the optimal ranges of earnings – the optimal of Gini indexes which are favourable to maximization of the GDP growth in Poland. We suspect that the optimal Gini coefficients expressing the acceptance of the whole of society for earnings inequalities can increase. In the article we formulated a hypothesis on the social habit to increasing disproportions of earnings. We verified the hypothesis on the basis of the model of the economic growth using data from 1970 to 2007. We carried out econometric studies in two stages. In the first stage we estimated the optimal Gini coefficients for short sub-periods being moved increasingly in time. In the second stage, we studied the character of changes of the optimal Gini coefficients. In the studies we proved the hypothesis on the habit of society to increasing disproportions of earnings. The optimal Gini coefficients increase along with the increase of differences in earnings and the increase of the economic level per capita. The growth of the optimal Gini coefficient may be slowed down.
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Keywords: community; freedom; Karol Wojtyła; John Paul II
One of the main themes in the 20th century disagreements about man is the question of freedom, which seems to be the most complicated and, at the same time, intriguing phenomenon in the characteristics of the human subject. Karol Wojtyła suggests positioning freedom not only in the horizon of the irreducibility of the person as a subject, who autonomously decides about self and gives direction to own activities, but also in the area of interpersonal community. Being a person as a free subject appears as “in relation to” or “referring to” (something, somebody). We respond to values by making choices. The world of values is extremely rich and varied. It also encompasses other people, who are in relation to one another. Therefore, to be a person means more than just to be for oneself, in oneself and by oneself. To be a person is to be in relation to other people and to values. The community-oriented character of freedom is focused on in the philosophical writings by Karol Wojtyła, who on numerous occasions emphasizes the fact that a person may reach fulfilment through another human being, in a community with others, without losing anything of own subjectivity or individuality. Wojtyła wishes to deal with the problem of one of the fundamental conditions upon the fulfilment of which the community I-You may become a reality of subjects fulfilment. In order to achieve this purpose, Wojtyła undertakes analyses of participation, solidarity, community, whose proper specification in the perception of freedom aims at emphasizing the sense of man’s existence together with other human beings, on the one hand, and the purpose of man’s earthly journey, on the other hand.
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Keywords: business; crisis; ethics; economic evil
Facing the economic crisis (began in 2007) managers and political leaders pay more attention to the postulate of socially responsible business. The axiological turn gives new possibilities to implement ethical standards in the sphere of economy. Alas, at the same time, this task evokes the following problems. Firstly, as social researchers, we need to know how to compose heterogeneous axiological systems (to join rules of ethics with the imperative of economic efficiency). Secondly, as market participants, we have to find the formula of mutual understanding (being seen as precondition of our ethical claims).
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Keywords: the globalization of the economy; the common wealth; the capital; the profit; the employment
The globalization constitutes the multilevel phenomenon. It also concerns the economic sphere. It is connected with the rapid technological development. In order to achieve this increasingly more recent economic successes do not forget about the one, who is to be source and the purpose of any activity – of a man.
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Keywords: morality; religion; civilization; Deepak Lal
The economist Deepak Lal researches the influence of morality and religion on the shaping of capitalism in different civilizations. His thought was confronted with the remarks of other institutionalists. Lal tries to find out what was the influence of the cost of transactions and the religious beliefs on the evolution of capitalism in chosen countries and regions. Lal claims that materialistic beliefs of agricultural civilizations had not played the key role in the economic growth. The reforms in the Church in the Middle Ages allowed to spread of the instinct of exchange and production of homo oeconomicus. As a result the individualism started to dominate over collectivism. Lal tries to prove that the individualism was not the basis of the Christian faith. The following virtues as: diligence, discipline, frugality, self-help, self-control have had secular origin and nowadays they are more common in India and China than in the West. The Asian civilizations face the dilemma during the economic expansion of the West. They had to choose the path of their development. China and India followed Japan and they modernized without westernization. They tried to find middle course between the tradition and the modernity. We tried to emphasize in the article, that none of the religions have determined the economic fate of the countries. Rather, the morality of the societies and the decision-makers’ beliefs had an influence on economic development.
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Keywords: humanization of work; structuralization of the work; empowerment; servant leadership
The article analyses the main humanistic models in the theory of management. Seeking the answer to a question is an aim of analysis research: whether achievements of the humanistic current do the man good and help them with their development, or whether, on the contrary – have instrumental character and serve only increasing the effectiveness of the man as the employee? Discovering deeper sources of the activity is crucial for fuller understanding the empowerment, which is developed in servant leadership.
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Keywords: Józef Tischner; work; value; dialogue; solidarity
Work cannot be separated from human life. Nowadays, the concept of work has been usually perceived only from an economic perspective as a factor of production process. Does acquiring the means of livelihood is the only value of human work? No doubt, it is a very basic goal, but not the only one. Besides this dimension, there are many other important aspects of human work. In the first part of my paper, I point out two possible understanding of the phenomenon of human work – an objective and a subjective one. The objective sense has to show haw men reign over the earth (material production). The subjective one emphasizes the dignity of human person (philosophical anthropology and ethics). According to Tischner it would be a mistake to take into account only the objective meaning of work, since the moral sense would have been omitted. In the second part, I will adduce the dangers to the proper understanding of human work which arise when one chooses the wrong concept of man (philosophical anthropology). In the philosophical understanding, work is a derivative of the accepted vision of man. In order to avoid the situation of objectifying of man (problem of reification), we should conceive him as a personal being who crates himself in the process of work. In the final part of my presentation, the phenomenon of work is discussed as a mean of improvement and perfection of human being which is done in cooperation with others. By the means of work man enters into relations with God, with the material world, with others (the social world) and with himself. By the above mentioned means she discovers the purpose of her life
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Keywords: utopian dimension; stable development
Utopian consciousness is defined as an expression of opposition against actual status quo with simultaneous tendency towards creating alternative projects guarantying possibilities which are not found in actual reality. Utopias usually are recognized as negative concepts. They may often glare with simple and artificial examples or faith their believers in realization of imagined world. Utopists are often called dreamers and people who try to implement unreal ideas into life. Although it can not be forgotten that there is a meaningful difference between abstract utopia and concrete one. In concrete utopia all wishful thinking is changed by seeking real historical alternatives in the boundaries of existed social, political and economical possibilities. If the history of social thought improves that utopias include inspiring force, expose weaknesses of actual order, criticize status quo it should be asked if the idea of sustainable development does not include some elements of utopian thought.
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