BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF ESTONIAN FOLKLORE RESEARCH AND FOLKLORE: ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF FOLKLORE

Author(s): Kalmer Lauk / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Folklore is a small area of research in the arts and humanities and it is fairly unique in every country or region. Because of these virtues it is hard to measure the impact of folklore research. This paper presents a detailed overview of the publications published by Estonian folklore researchers from 2005–2014 and verifies that Estonia is a highly active country with an impact as immense as its neighbors and the world in this area of science. One of the main reasons for this seems to be the indexing of Estonian folklore journal Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science Core Collections Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Since 2008 when the indexing started the journal has developed into a regionally important folklore journal which is publishing papers not only from Estonia but also from other countries far and near, and these papers have a visible impact not only on the area itself, but to other areas as well, meaning Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore is catching up with other big folklore journals. Estonia is on the huge map of world science not only with biology, genetics or physics, but also with folklore.

Kobiety na rynku pracy w Niemczech

Author(s): Jarosław Koral / Language(s): Polish Issue: 10/2015

Unemployment is the most important social problem affecting hundreds of millions of people in the world. It is a threat to various groups with different social background and age, especially young people, women and those having the lowest education. It is a phenomenon as it pushes workers to the margins of society, causing progressive impoverishment, misery, increased stress as well, social and moral degradation. It deprives one of basic human rights, including the right to work, which is connected directly to the right to life. This often leads to the loss of meaning and purpose in life, existence is viewed as an disappointing and depressing. Job loss causes isolation; dissolution of friendly relations and exclusion from professional and social events. Unemployment also creates conflicts in family life, diverce and negatively affects relationships between family members. As numerous studies have shown unemployment results in increasing pathology of social life: alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution and crime, particularly in relation to young people. Working women are paid significalitly less, (often about 30% less) than men who work in the same positions. Researches show that, indeed, there are major differences in remunerations, mainly because women work in offices and administration, where wages are lower than in the production dominated by men. Despite a very good education and striving for continuous improvement of qualifications there are few women working on in high positions. Generally, it is clear that women have significant problems with achieving leadership positions and career advancement. The immediate cause of unemployment among women is maternity leave. Access to employment is often made difficult for women due to the stereotypes claiming that women should devote themselves primarily to family and conjugal life. An important factor that generates unemployment among women is the fact that there are relatively few women employers.

HOW COULD STUDENTS BECOME LOYAL CITIZENS? BASIC VALUES, VALUE EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL ATTITUDES AMONG 10th-GRADERS IN ESTONIA

Author(s): Heiki Haljasorg,Laur Lilleoja / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

This is the first part of a longitudinal quantitative study analysing the effect of value education on high school students’ value structures in the context of history classes and national attitudes. The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of basic human values of Estonian first-year high school students, to link them with their national attitudes and to test for differences based on the presence of value education during the history classes. The sample includes 22 randomly selected 10th grade classes from different Estonian high schools, with altogether n = 408 students. Respondents filled an online survey including Shalom Schwartz’ value scale and a set of questions measuring national and other kind of attitudes and the existence of value education during the history classes.

THE ETHNIC-COLONIAL COMMUNIST LEGACY AND THE FORMATION OF THE ESTONIAN AND LATVIAN PARTY SYSTEMS

Author(s): Tõnis Saarts / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

The Estonian and Latvian party politics stand apart from the Central and Eastern European mainstream for two principal reasons: the peculiar absence of the communist-successor parties and the right-wing-inclined ideologically unbalanced party competition. All these features seem to be framed by unique cleavage constellations in which the ethnic cleavage is effectively merged with the communist-anti-communist cleavage. The article seeks to explain these exceptional features, while applying to the theory formulated by Herbert Kitschelt, in which different types of communist regime legacies are linked with cleavage formation and the evolution of party systems. However, the analysis demonstrates that Kitschelt’s original argument on the Latvian and Estonian cases was misleading and therefore a new type of communist legacy was proposed – the ethnic-colonial communism, which enables to provide a more convincing explanation and opens up new research perspectives on the subject.

Book review of 'Mass-media, modernitate tendentiala si europenizare in era Internetului' [Mass-media, tendential modernity and Europeanization in the Internet era] by Constantin Schifirnet, Bucharest: Tritonic, 2014, 356 pages

Author(s): Mălina Ciocea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

A strong voice in the Romanian sociology of communication, Constantin Schifirneþ has published extensively in the fields of cultural anthropology and Romanian philosophical and sociological thinking, re-editing fundamental works by Spiru Haret (vol. I-XI, 2009-2010), C. Rãdulescu-Motru, A.D. Xenopol and other significant authors. His most recent papers analyze phenomena and processes in Romanian society: modernization and Europeanization, with a special focus on the role played by mass-media in these developments.

Needfulness and challenges of internationalisation and involvement of international environmental NGOs in University research and education:

Author(s): Peter Mihók / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2014

Society’s perceptions of desired democratic standards in radioactive waste management sector have changed significantly in the recent two decades. The change, known also as ‘participatory turn’, can be well illustrated on the example of site selection process for a geological repository of spent nuclear fuel in the Czech Republic. Empiric evidence from this process outlines links between the roles of Governmental bodies, NGOs, research institutions and businesses in dealing with the new challenges in decision making procedures concerning spent nuclear fuel. Selected examples from the EURATOM financed research projects ARGONA, COWAM and IPPA illustrate a growing need for internationalisation and involvement of environmental NGOs in related research and education processes in a near future.

Sărăcia energetică: impactul social al reformei prețurilor energiei asupra standardului de viață

Author(s): Cătălin Zamfir,Mihai Dumitru,Adina Mihăilescu,Mariana Stanciu,Elena Zamfir,Ilie Bădescu,Ion Glodeanu,Adela Șerban / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

Acest studiu se focalizează pe impactul social, pe vulnerabilităţile şi problemele sociale pe care le crează reforma sistemului energetic şi crearea pieţei naţionale a energiei. Explozia preţurilor energiei şi creşterea sărăciei energetice, a numărului de consumatori vulnerabili, impun o evaluare critică şi o reproiectare a sistemului de protecţie socială a acestora. Analiza şi comparaţiile internaţionale se bazează pe datele statistice privind consumul energetic, sărăcia şi deprivarea materială furnizate de instituţii publice româneşti şi europene. La acestea se adaugă datele rezultate din cercetările Institutului de Cercetare a Calităţii Vieţii privitoare la standardul de viaţă, sărăcie sau minimul decent de trai. În următorii 2–3 ani preţurile electricităţii şi ale gazelor naturale se vor dubla, ceea ce va avea consecinţe profunde nu numai asupra situaţiei sociale a consumatorilor vulnerabili, ci şi asupra politicilor publice şi activităţii instituţiilor cu responsabilităţi în domeniul energiei, motiv pentru care studiul include un set de recomandări pentru acestea.

Vulnerable groups of population in Romania

Author(s): Adina Mihăilescu / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2015

The majority of Romanian households have a consumption centered on satisfying the basic needs. The predominantly low level of income of the population has not allowed for savings in the years of economic growth before the crisis, which has caused more degradation in the living conditions during the crisis – degradation far below the decent minimal consumption, in all the categories of households. In this study we analyze changes in the Romanian landscape of household incomes and the impact of wage and child allowance from the living standard of population, in July 2015.

Activități educaționale „altfel”

Author(s): Gabriela Carmen Neagu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

Din 2011, Ministerul Educaţiei şi Cercetării a propus organizarea unor activităţi extracurriculare şi extraşcolare la nivelul preuniversitar de învăţământ – „Şcoala altfel” – cu scopul de a permite elevilor să-şi dezvolte cunoştinţele, abilităţile, deprinderile prin alte tipuri de învăţare decât cele de la clasă (învăţământ formal) şi, în acelaşi timp, să le permită valorificarea celor însuşite la orele de curs în situaţii concrete, de viaţă. Acestea sunt şi ocaziile în care elevii pot fi implicaţi în acţiuni de promovare, dezbatere pe diverse teme de interes pentru ei şi pentru societatea sau comunitatea de care aparţin. Activităţile desfăşurate în această perioadă nu sunt evaluate prin note sau calificative, însă obţinerea unui feedback din partea elevilor şi cadrelor didactice este necesar. În articolul de faţă, vom prezenta o analiză a unor activităţi desfăşurate de şi cu elevii din învăţământul preuniversitar din diferite instituţii cu scopul nu doar de a evidenţia diversitatea lor, ci mai ales de a înţelege modul în care elevi şi cadre didactice se raportează la o serie de probleme, situaţii, acţiuni de interes pentru societate.

Obiective de dezvoltare privind creșterea calității guvernării - România 2015-2035

Author(s): Monica Marin,Adriana Neguţ,Claudia Petrescu,Manuela Sofia Stănculescu,Iulian Stanescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

Articolul prezintă câteva obiective specifice legate de obiectivul general de dezvoltare a calităţii administraţiei publice ca o condiţie necesară pentru îmbunătăţirea calităţiifurnizării serviciilor publice şi, mai general, pentru o bună guvernare. Propunerile derivă din analiza documentelor strategice naţionale şi internaţionale şi a datelor disponibile şi sunt legate de: I. elaborarea şi implementarea politicilor publice; II. managementul resurselor umane şi III. e-guvernare, alături de factori facilitatori legaţi de dezvoltarea capacităţii de parteneriat şi procesul de descentralizare fiscală şi administrativă. Pentru a monitoriza implementarea acestor obiective pe orizontul de timp scurt, mediu şi lung, articolul propune o serie de indicatori-cheie care să arate progresul României în direcţia atingerii obiectivului general. Ţintele propuse nu pot fi atinse în absenţa realizării următoarelor obiective pe termen scurt: I. îmbunătăţirea calităţii statisticilor din sectorul public; II. dezvoltarea sistemului de recompense şi beneficii pentru personalul din sectorul public; III. implementarea proiectelor din fonduri europene care vizează formarea personalului din sectorul public; IV. creşterea autonomiei financiare şi decizionale a autorităţilor publice locale; V. simplificarea procedurilor administrative pentru accesarea serviciilor publice de către cetăţeni; VI. dezvoltarea la nivel naţional a disponibilităţii serviciilor e-guvernare, inclusiv pentru grupurile dezavantajate; VII. îmbunătăţirea competenţelor digitale ale persoanelor din grupurile dezavantajate.

100 de ani de la nașterea profesorului Vasile V. Caramelea

Author(s): Cornel Constantinescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

Iulian Stănescu, Cătălin Zamfir, (coord.), România la răscruce. Opțiuni pentru viitor, București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2015

Author(s): Corina Popa / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

Iulian Stănescu, Puterea politică în România. De la comunism la noul capitalism (1989-2014), București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2014

Author(s): Flavius Mihalache / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 4/2015

“Learnt Time across Fairy Tales – Kindergarteners’ Sense of Temporality, Futures Planning and Time Socialisation”

Author(s): Oana-Mara Stan / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2015

The current study concerns a phenomenological approach based on the meaning-making processes that accompany time socialisation, or how hurry, time pressure and busyness are passed down in early childhood by implicit learning involved in fairy tales. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were carried out with a total of 61 kindergarten participants from nuclear, dual-earner families of Bucharest suburbs enrolled in state education. The narrative ethno-theoretical approach highlights how time use styles based on busyness, hurriedness, acceleration and time squeeze are constructed subjectively by young children, who reinterpret fairy tale assumptions and time use practices that they observe. Results suggest that time perspectives related to tangible time and polychronicity can be inferred by means of verbal cues and streams of meaning that circulate by means of fairy tales as socio-linguistic vehicles. Time socialisation mechanisms are deciphered using the language (partly shared, partly incongruent) of children’s expectations and fairy tales (more subtle or more evident) time implications. The study opens up to a prospect of plausible landmarks for the emerging conceptual model of time use lifestyle and early time socialisation, by stressing the impact of early childhood settings focused on fairy tales read through a time-oriented paradigm. The study questions latent messages which fairy tales launch, sometimes unintendedly, most often as peripheral cue, yet powerful twist that children resonate to regarding time conceptions. Children’s sensitiveness to pedagogical messages elicited indirectly by fairy tales means that they tend to build discursive time identities based on temporal coordinates configured by storytelling, in a subtle interplay of sensification and lived experiences.

Excesul de prosperitate şi indicele vieţii planetare

Author(s): Mariana Stanciu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/2015

The accelerated economic development initiated by the Western industrial revolution and consumerist societies, generated an unprecedented difficult ecologic situation on the Earth. This article presents some consequences of this difficult ecologic situation in the field of human and other species` quality of life. The author focused on the data regarding the continuous global growth of the goods and services consumption, during the last 25 years, as a result of the often irresponsible general competition for profit, of the goods and services producers, but on the other side, by the too great distance between the global banking system rationality and the rationality of the real and durable economy. The article proposes some measures for alleviating social risks of the economic development, and also, for the raising quality of life, both for human race and other conscious species living on the Earth. In this article there are used data published by some international institutions and organizations, as World Bank or World Watch Foundation, and also, information from the very recent scientific researches belonging to the field of experimental psychology and socio-economic scientific research.

Factors of Pursuing Higher Education in the Hungarian-Romanian Cross-Border Region

Author(s): Krisztina Bernáth / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2015

One of the main challenges and tasks for young people is that they have to reflect and define their most important goals, hopes and expectations regarding their future. These decisions include pursuing higher education. In this paper, the decision to continue studies was analyzed as a landmark in the quest for status and as a consequence of the expansion of higher education, highlighting the influence of different variables such as the type and personal motivations, value systems and dimensions of attitudes towards learning, in addition to the social context of the individual. The decision to continue education is inextricably linked to young people’s desire to build a career, to the future direction of social mobility. Becoming an intellectual is one possible solution to obtain a social status and upward social mobility, graduating from a higher graduation institution is often considered as a guarantee for a successful future. The aim of this paper is to analyze the motives behind the decision to pursue higher education, in correlation with the individual and social motivational context. The source of the data used in the research is the result of the cross study carried out wihtin the HERD project in 2012; a sub-sample of undergraduate students from five higher education institutions from the Romania-Hungary cross-border area was selected (N = 2,120).

Politica veniturilor în România

Author(s): Adina Mihăilescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/2015

Researchers from the Institute for Quality of Life Research using various methods and research tools to identify segments of the population in need and who can not help themselves but need state intervention, by special measures of social protection. Difficult situations, even alarming, they live in some families, like: family of two adults with two dependent children, you have one average net salary and allowances of the two children, can not cover the minimum decent life, then couple retired there one average pension insurance is also in difficulty, families in which one parent become unemployed or pensioners with minimum pensions offices are some examples of people identified as needing support and social protection and who live in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty, if not supported social distancing them from a decent life. About half of Romanian households can not meet the mandatory consumer spending compared to income they have. This in itself increases their vulnerability to risk losing or diminishing revenues.

Comments on Adina Mihǎilescu, The Minimum Cost of Living, an Instrument in Social Policy, Romanian Academy Publishing House, Bucharest, 2014, 107 p.

Author(s): Bianca Buligescu / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2015

The aim of the article is to discuss poverty estimates based on the minimum income that different household types would need to acquire the minimum consumption basket. The article reviews Adina Mihăilescu’s book presenting her main results: the minimum wage and the minimum pension are not set high enough to lift people out of poverty, the unemployment benefit and the minimum income guaranteed do not cover the basic costs of living, having more children increases the risk of poverty, since children’s allowance does not offset the cost.

Conferinţa Internaţională de Ştiinţe Sociale (ICSS), Bucureşti, 19-20 septembrie 2014

Author(s): Bianca Buligescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 02/2015

Interpretare sociologică a chestionarului de expoziţie „De la primele scrieri la multimedia. O scurtă istorie a comunicării şi mai mult ...”

Author(s): Gabriela Cristea / Language(s): English,Romanian Issue: 2/2011

Questionnaires as a tool to collect information only helps us to know the visitor profile and satisfaction of public requirements participant in events organized by the museum. Exhibition to which we refer is the first exhibition in Romania to use your mobile phone and 2Dcodes as a means of visiting an exhibition.