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GLOBALIZATION AND THE LANGUAGE - special review on the Republic of Macedonia -

Author(s): Marija Drakulovska-Čukalevska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

In this study we tend to place the issue of globalization and the language in the Republic of Macedonia in a sociological context. For that purpose, the research was focused on assessing the opinion of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia on the presence of public signboards and company names in the Republic of Macedonia written in a foreign language; the problems related to the understanding of the meaning of the public signboards and company names written in a foreign language, as well as their opinion on the appearance of the public signboards and company names written in a foreign language.

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GLOBALIZATION, IDENTITY, CULTRAL IDENTITY AND MACEDONIA IN THAT MATTER

Author(s): Eleonora Stojkova / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

Today identity is placed under question mark, but why? Globalization and Europeanization are questioning identity, but again why? In light of these changes the paper aims to place the question of the identity vis-a-vis globalization and Europeanization and tries to identify and explain the consequences of globalization and cultural imperialism for the cultural identity of Macedonia. Additionally, the paper explores the sociological dimension of the aforementioned phenomena.

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BUSINESS PRACTICES AND IDENTITY

Author(s): Galina Koleva / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

Globalization is stimulating research in the field of cultural adaptivity and tolerance, behavioural models that broaden the range of cultural diversity, overcoming stereotypes, and changes in identity. Cultural identification and its projections in individual behaviour on the one hand, and the effect of the application and adaptation of other people’s experience and business models on the other, shape the adjustments and the strategies of the social participants. An important role is played here by the systems of behaviour and mutual relations, cultural rules and symbolic codes. In this sense, culture and what has been inherited are transformed into an important instrument for social dynamics and are oriented towards the search for new resources for development. The aim of the paper is to discuss aspects of this thesis, providing specific examples and also to present an analysis of behavioural adaptations, motivations and models shared by the economic participants in two areas of business practices – a) practices in the “grey” economy and b) the practices of agricultural producers in the use of land.

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GLOBALIZATION AND THE METAMORPHOSIS OF IDENTITY/Globalization and the ’’Fate“ of National Identities

Author(s): Ljubiša R. Mitrović / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

The paper analyzes the cultural aspects of globalization in the contemporary world, as a new form of acculturation, interrelation and metamorphosis of national cultures and identities. It especially focuses on the research of the changes in the national and regional identity in the context of European integrations in the Balkans, the relation between national and European identity, as well as the ’’fate“ of national identities of small nations in the conditions of globalization. Starting form the hypothesis that the geocultural paradigm plays an important role in the understanding the current and future transformation processes of personal and collective identities in the global age, the paper addresses the given topic by combining results of the relevant contemporary theroetical and empirical research. Thereby, it pays special attention to the Balkans and the sociological research carried out (in Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria) by the Institute for Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, within the macro project entitled ’’The Culture of Peace, Identities and Interethnic Relations in Serbia and in the Balkans in the Euro integration Processes“ (2006/2010).

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GLOBALIZATION AND HYBRIDIZATION OF CULTURE

Author(s): Gjorgje Mladenovski / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

In this paper, we give a detailed analysis of the concepts of globalization and cultural hybridization, as well as the concept of creolization, and their relevance for understanding the contemporary culture. Despite criticism and skepticism concerning the value of the concept of globalization that have appeared as a result of a “post-global turn” that were provoked by 9/11 events, most authors argue that globalization is essential to understanding the contemporary epoch. As for globalization of culture, it is argued that globalizing forces did not inevitably lead to uniform global culture. They brought local cultural patterns closer to the “imagined” global culture but at the same time. They have promoted greater cultural heterogeneity. The process of hybridization further contributes to continuing cultural heterogeneity. In the paper, we discuss in more detail the concepts of cultural hybridization as well as of creolization.

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TOWARDS A EUROPEAN IDENTITY: THE ROLE OF THE NATIONAL HISTORIOGRAFIES IN THE CREATION OF BALKAN MYTHS

Author(s): Jovan Ananiev,Strashko Stojanovski / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2012

The rise of the nation and the promotion of national ideology have a key role in the redefinition of the Balkan identities. The new era of modernity is actually offering brand new standards for the definition of Otherness which is a precondition for the construction of the borders among the groups. During the imperial era, the communities were building the vision of the world through religious systems and their obeying as universal criteria. The new conditions of the market economy and citizenship offered the new national state as the only alternative, along with the nationalism, as an accompanying ideology. However, in order to homogenize the future national entities, it is necessary to create criteria for ethnicity that would be able to create a unique ethical awareness or expulsion on the basis of the so-called mutual collective memory, regardless of the territorial bases or the linguistic-cultural distinctions. Therefore, even during the 19th century the proto-national intelligence would accelerate, establishing the ethnical boundaries, pursuant the myth of the origin and the durability of the discrepancies. This would become an eternal task of the social engineering, as well as a task for the creators who shaped the framework of the Balkan historiographies. The challenges for the collective identity in the Balkans and the rest of Europe are approaching slowly, but surely. Simultaneously with the new mainstream of the political and economical integration of the Balkan countries into the European Union, the legal framework for the direct mutual communication and collaboration is being created. This threat is, at the same time, diffuse, uncertain and silent. It is not only an outcome of the external threats of the international terrorism which actually crystallize and strengthens the community as destined.

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Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child?

Author(s): Jan Černý / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2008

A Czech psychologist offers some provocative opinions: Lying is also an essential social skill. One parent should always be stricter and the other one more forgiving.

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Vaikų psichologinio konsultavimo ir jų santykių su šeimos nariais sąsajos

Author(s): Bronislava Grigaitė,Ilona Norgėlienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 28/2009

The article analyzes the children with aggressive behavior, their psychological consulting and relations with their parents. Methods of psychological consulting (offered by I. Norgeliene in 2006) were directed to the children, their parents and teachers. Experimental and control groups were formed with 20 first-graders in each. Psychological consulting of the experimental group has been held for three months where 20 children, 35 parents and 6 teachers took part. The results of the research revealed that psychological consulting improves the children’s relations with their family members. The efficiency of the consulting depends on the family structure, the style of education, family punishments and the family’s involvement into the process of psychological consulting. The object of the research - children’s aggressive behavior. The aim of the research – to study aggressive behavior of 7-year-old children, their psychological consulting in relation with their families. The following conclusions were made: 1. Psychological consulting improves the children’s relations with their families. 2. The efficiency of the consulting depends on family structure, style of education, family punishments. 3. It also depends on family’s involvement in the process of psychological consulting. The tasks of the research: 1. Following the analysis of scientific data, to create methods of psychological consulting for aggressive children. 2. To organize experiments, proving the efficiency of psychological methods 3. To analyze the influence of the methods of psychological consulting on aggressive children in relation with their families. The methods of the research: The analysis of scientific literature, different tests: Raven’s colorful progressive matrices (CPM), Bender Motor Gestalt Test, the tables of proof geometrical figures, Conner’s Rating Scales-Revised for Parents and Teachers, Gilles projection method, observation, the analysis of statistic data which was made with software SPSS 12.0 for Windows packet. The methods used for statistic data analysis: dispersive measurement factors analysis (Repeated Measures Define Factor(s)), F criterion is calculated for dispersions comparison, Cronbach Alpha coefficient is calculated to evaluate scales inward reliability. Also it was chosen statistical significance level α 0.05. The conclusions made: 1. Psychological consulting of children improves their relations with their family members (r=0,062, p=0,0001). 2. The psychological consulting is the most effective in nuclear families (the biggest average contrasts were drawn on children’s relations with their family members (1,62; p=0,04), the problems of behavior (7,01; p=0,01), and aggressive behavior (2,6; p=0,03)), the families who apply democratic upbringing style (the biggest average contrasts were drawn on children’s relations with their family members (1,94; p=0,035), the problems of behavior (5,97; p=0,01) and aggressive behavior (3,25; p=0,04)) and the

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Zgodovinsko-geografske dinamike migracij v smeri Afrika – EU

Author(s): Janez Pirc / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 1-2/2008

The article gives a comprehensive analysis of the most important factors that have contributed through historical development to the interweaving between the African and European migration system and/or the increase in migration flows between those regions. The historical sketch commences from the end of the 19th century, when political and/or colonial relations between the European and African regions intensified. While a gradual increase in the African migration population, travelling almost exclusively to the most influential European colonial centres, was noted in the first half of the 20th century, a major change in the development of migration on that route occurred from the 1960s, with increasingly more African countries gaining their independence. In more recent history, an important turning-point occurred around 1990, when major socio-political changes came about, both on the territory of Europe and of Africa. The causes for that type of migration had always been very complex and had been linked to processes and factors on both sides. Various measures in favour of migration from countries outside the region of the European Economic Community that were introduced from the early 1970s did not produce the desired effects while, to the contrary, some restrictions even stimulated certain types of migration from the African continent. Notwithstanding the fact that, in the quantitative sense, the majority of African migrants and/or foreign citizens continue to be concentrated in the former colonial centres, those centres have not been the sole regions of mass migration from Africa for some time now.

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Religije u Jugoistočnoj Europi: historijskoantropološki pristup

Author(s): Michael Mitterauer / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1-2/2008

The article approaches religious phenomena in South-Eastern Europe in a historico-anthropological manner. With the aid of historical comparison, the author tries to throw light on the religious phenomena of South-Eastern Europe and to present them in a lucid review. A significant place in this process is given to historical sociology as a discipline which, among other, also deals with the religious conditioning of social processes. The text consists of two parts. In the first, the author deals with the question of the religious particularity of South-Eastern Europe and considers it from several viewpoints. The author regards the most important features of the religious situation in that part of Europe as being particularism, archaicism and syncretism. He analyses the historical conditioning of the viability of the three monotheistic world religions in the region, their influence on the social development of South- Eastern Europe, the stance of the authorities towards religious communities and the existence of diverse traditions within individual religious cultures. Along with analysis of the presence of ancient elements and the continuity of pre-Christian rituals and beliefs, the author also stresses the strong syncretism marking the religious traditions of South-Eastern Europe. In the second part of the text the author compares religious phenomena in South-Eastern Europe and analyses regional religious traditions. He presents from the historico-anthropological aspect the religious rituals, the bearers of rituals, the place and time of rituals and the ritual languages of each of the world religions represented in the region. Emphasising the continuity of religious life and religious traditions in South-Eastern Europe, the author ends with the period of Communist rule in the second half of the 20th century, and deliberation that Communism, too, with its atheist doctrine in the secular form of cult, in fact carried on from religious tradition.

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Kretanje hrvatske ponude rada i njen utjecaj na migracijske tijekove

Author(s): Alka Obadić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1-2/2008

The Croatian labour market is characterised by a low degree of activity on the part of the population, a high unemployment rate, a pronounced problem with long-term unemployment and a high structural disproportion between supply and demand. Because of the relatively high share of the unofficial economy, there is a large difference between the administrative unemployment rate and that shown by surveys. Analysis of the situation on the Croatian labour market shows that significant structural issues still remained unsolved (such as inflexibility, mismatch between supply and demand with respect to profession and education, and similar). There is still very limited creation of new jobs. The employment rates of men and women and the employment of young people are among the lowest in comparison with the EU-27 and are far from attainment of the Lisbon objectives. The high rate of economic inactivity indicates the lack of utilisation of the existing work force potential. The conducted research shows that the continued advised needs for workers is 25 time higher than the annual number of approved work permits to foreigners from 1992 to 2006, while that number was negligible in 1991. Due to this situation, Croatia still has a very strict protectionist orientation towards employing foreigners, although the fact is that this situation will have to change very quickly with accession to the EU. It can be concluded that no major changes in migration flows or any significant shifts in employment and unemployment rates can be expected until the year 2010. Although opening the borders could mean, on the one hand, the possibility of increased emigration of the Croatian work force, the expectations are that such movements, nonetheless, will not occur. It is more likely that opening borders would be connected with greater mobility of workers, both from Croatia into other countries and from other countries towards Croatia.

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Moć klasifikacije: klasifikacijske sheme i konstrukcija etničke strukture u Banskoj Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji (1785.-1860.)

Author(s): Aleksandar Vukić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1-2/2008

The paper discusses the influence of ideological and scholarly-ethnographic classification schemes, as well as those pertaining to population censuses, on the formation of ethnic identities and ethnic structure in Civil Croatia and Slavonia from 1785 to 1860. Proceeding from the theory of social systems and institutions, the author examines the power of classification schemes and their influence on the construction of ethnic identities. It has been shown that changes in social orders also lead to changes in the principles of constructing classification schemes. Thus, in the modern social order, the combination of commonsensical, ideological, scholarly and official statistic classification schemes led to the creation of a specific ethno-nationalist discourse, which strongly influenced the formation of ethnic identities, overcoming traditional ethnic particularities and formation of modern ethnic communities on the territories of Civil Croatia and Slavonia in the early modern period.

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Etnocentrizam, autoritarne tendencije i religioznost: relacije na uzorku zagrebačkih studenata

Author(s): Zlatko Šram / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1-2/2008

This paper presents the results of research through which an endeavour was made to establish the predictive importance of various authoritarian tendencies (traditional gender roles, authoritarian obedience, conformism) in relation to expressions of ethnocentrism, whose structure of attitudes indicates nationalistic sentiment. The second objective of the research was to determine the influence of declarative religiosity on the latent configuration of ethnocentrism and the variables of authoritarian tendencies. The research was conducted on a sample of first-year students at the University of Zagreb (N = 223). The homogeneity of the measuring instruments was checked by factor analysis with a varimax rotation, and their reliability was calculated by the Cronbach co-efficient. In further multivariate data processing, factor extracted dimensions were used. The results of regression analysis showed that traditional gender roles (patriarchalism) and conformism are significant predictors of ethnocentrism. The approximately 31% ethnocentrism variance was explained by predictor variables. The results of canonical discrimination analysis showed the considerable influence of declarative religiosity on the latent configuration of ethnocentrism and authoritarian tendencies. The structure of the canonical factor indicates the existence of a pattern of attitudes and values of a higher order, called “social conservatism”. A relatively small percentage of variance (around 12%) in the examined variables set can be attributed to differences in declarative religiosity, which points to the relatively modest significance of religiosity in the forecasting of social conservatism. Although the results of research comply with other researches conducted in Croatia on samples of the general population, the author shows, on the example of Voyvodina, that the interrelations of ethnocentrism, authoritarian tendencies, conformism and religiosity are not uniform in a society with people living in a different cultural heritage and political context .

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Kvaliteta života u Hrvatskoj – povezanost subjektivnih i objektivnih indikatora te temperamenta i demografskih varijabli s osvrtom na manjinski status

Author(s): Ivana Lučev / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1-2/2008

The Quality of Life in Croatia – the Connection between Subjective and Objective Indicators as well as Temperament and Demographic Variables with a Reference to Minority Status The objective of this study was to establish predictability of different demographic and psychological variables as well as some indicators of health and socioeconomic status on general life satisfaction and satisfaction with specific domains of life. Life satisfaction was measured with Quality of Life Scale, dimensions of temperament with Pavlovian temperament survey and demographic variables, health and socioeconomic status indicators with general data questionnaire on a sample of 251 subjects. In order to encompass participants of diverse ethnic affiliation in Croatia the sample included Croats and the members of four minority groups: Serbian, Italian, Czech and Slovenian. Significant predictors accounted for 15% variance of general life satisfaction, and satisfaction with life in the past year, while the percentage for specific domains of life satisfaction varied from 2 to 30%. There were no significant differences between these groups in general life satisfaction, and there was only one statistically significant difference for satisfaction with specific life domains: the members of the majority group were less satisfied with society in which they live and rights they have than the members of the minority groups.

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Mieszkalnictwo socjalne w Polsce

Author(s): Dorota Mantey / Language(s): Polish Issue: 19/2013

The paper reviews the legal framework and state’s and local government’s activity aimed at providing affordable housing. First, the author discusses solutions concerning social (public) housing in EU member states and presents the Polish legal basis of social housing (central and local government regulations). Next, the main obstacles to the development of affordable housing in Poland are covered, as well as temporary measures employed to mitigate housing shortage.

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A Prodromal Checklist to Diagnose Crisis Preparedness of Business Organizations

Author(s): Ion Chiciudean,George David / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

Crisis communication, as an essential part of crisis management, is a major challenge for organizations, especially the business within the current communication framework. As the stakeholders’ perceptions represent very often the greatest potential danger in crises, communication plays quite frequently an important role in the organizational efforts to control, contain, and resolve a crisis situation. The absence or insufficiency of crisis communication management is a major threat to the organizational achievements because of significant financial losses generated by inadequate stakeholder perceptions. We have initiated a research in this field, with special attention to the Romanian business situation. The first empirical step of our research sought to determine to what extent Romanian business organizations are perceived as being aware of this challenge. A survey has confirmed that they are perceived by their stakeholders as quite unaware, as not acting on a planned basis as far as organizational crises are concerned. Based on this initial empirical research, in order to help business organizations to be seen as reliable actors in crisis situations, we have made a preliminary checklist with “prodromes” (symptoms) to be considered both by business managers and communication strategists while planning for crisis management.

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Self-understanding of the Project Manager in Communicating with Project Teams

Author(s): Adina Elena Marincea,Roxana Dascălu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

This paper seeks to investigate the communication role of the Project Manager when it comes to coordinating the project team. Our research aims at identifying to what extent the self-understanding of the project manager influences the communication styles he/she promotes in driving the project team from the “Forming” to the “Performing” stage of team development, as conceptualized by Bruce Tuckman. We expect to find a connection between the stages of team development and the Project Life Cycle. The findings show that PMs in Romania are generally aware of their role of key communicators in the project and consciously adapt their communication style to the needs of the team members and to specific situations. Although most of the PMs are self and social aware, they place different importance on emotions in the decision-making process. The research shows that PMs adopt different patterns of team development according to the type of organization they belong to, their experience, age, the organizational or project constraints. Results show that there are certain specific context-related features which act either as obstacles or as incentives for reaching team performance when implementing projects and which diminish PMs’ perceived contribution in driving the project team to the “Performing” stage.

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The role of context in coaches’ post-match discourses

Author(s): Diana Dumitriu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

Nowadays, when there are liquid boundaries between sports and other social areas of life in terms of values, communication or behaviour models, analysing the impact of social context upon sport actors’ discourses could provide interesting insights regarding the socially situated nature of discourses. The focus of this study case is on the impact that the context has upon coaches’ public discourses and, moreover, on how they define and position themselves towards other sports’ actors. Based on a corpus of coaches’ discourses during the post-match press conferences from an international handball competition, there are two main dimensions of analysis: the contractual/situational one and the relational one. While, the compelling force of the communication contract of press conferences determines a high level of similarity between coaches’ discourses, the sport courtesy speech acts work both as a way of establishing a consensual frame of interaction between the participants, as well as a way of building and maintaining a positive face for the speaker and his team.

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Institutional Discrimination against the (non) Constituent Communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Blocking the Europeanization Process

Author(s): Bedrudin Brljavac / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

In spite of the fact that more than a decade Bosnia and Herzegovina has been going through deep European Union-related reform processes the country is still facing troubles in terms of its democratic progress. For instance, the post-Dayton public discourse has been characterised by ideological domination of the nationalist political elites which are doing very little to include the so-called non-nationalists and a members of several minority groups from public policy-making. As a result Bosnia is facing serious democratic deficit since one of the most fundamental objectives of Bosnia's EU reforms processes has been eradication of a dangerous politics of nationalists or 'ethnic fascists'. Thus, in this paper the main focus was on the theme of the post-Dayton ethnic projects which have brought about massive discrimination against the non-constituents and a so-called Others as they are referred to at the constitutional framework. Better to say, in the post-war Bosnia democratic inclusion has turned into a competition between the country's three biggest national communities, Bosnian Muslims or Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats. Overall, Bosnian citizens still live in the political system which is largely based on ethnic-nationalist paradigm or ethnocracy rather than democratic political system. Therefore, Bosnia which is largely discriminating against significant number of its citizens can not enter the European Union as such.

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La personnalité de marque: une approche cross-culturelle

Author(s): Nicoleta Corbu / Language(s): French Issue: 3/2011

Cet article présente les résultats d’une analyse cross culturelle de la personnalité de marque des automobiles, en tant que porteur de sens des marques locales et globales. Les marques sont discutées dans une perspective sémiotique, comme types spéciaux de signes publicitaire. Le sens des marques se construit différemment en espaces culturels différents, situés dans des positions extrêmes ou intermédiaires sur l’échelle de l’individualisme proposé par Geert Hofstede. Pourtant, il y a des similarités remarquables qui suggèrent des mécanismes de construction du sens semblables dans des cultures différentes.

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