Sociálne a politické analýzy 2-2007

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Magdaléna Hovanová

The university textbook offers a view of the family in social contexts. It deals with the basic characteristics of the family, the life cycle of the family from the choice of partner, through the arrival of children in the family to the end of the family. During its duration, the family performs various functions. A functional family is ideal for a harmonious relationship between partners and a suitable environment for raising children.

However, a number of factors enter the life of the family, which directly or indirectly affect the performance of these functions and can cause various disorders. It is here that the task of social work is to offer help to families to cope with their big and small problems. A specific feature of social work is the focus on the whole and a comprehensive assessment of the family, where it is necessary to take into account both the client's point of view and the aspect of the environment in which he lives and which constantly affects him. Therefore, the university textbook offers procedures for social work with the family, from the assessment of the life situation, through the plan of work with the family to social intervention.

The university textbook is intended for students of social work, who have the opportunity to practice complex issues within the assessment of the case through the enclosed case studies.

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Lucia Tóthová

The monograph offers a comprehensive perspective on the theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions of participatory visual research within the field of social work. It is grounded in the understanding that social work plays a crucial role in amplifying the voices of vulnerable groups and promoting social justice, with particular attention paid to persons with disabilities who frequently encounter limited opportunities for participation as well as persistent social, communicative, and environmental barriers. The author analyses the concept of participation in alignment with the principle of “Nothing about us without us” and presents the PhotoVoice method as an interdisciplinary tool that integrates participatory action research, critical pedagogy, feminist epistemologies, and documentary photography. The method is understood not only as a research technique but also as a form of visual advocacy, enabling participants to articulate their experiences, needs, and perspectives in ways accessible to both professional audiences and the wider public. The monograph reflects on the development of PhotoVoice in international scholarship and highlights its potential to transcend traditional academic boundaries toward participatory and transformative practice in social work. The empirical section comprises three projects conducted by the author in the Slovak context, focusing on diverse groups of persons with disabilities and their families, who face specific social needs and everyday barriers. The findings demonstrate the potential of PhotoVoice to strengthen participation through accessible and meaningful visual tools. The monograph also addresses methodological, ethical, and terminological considerations and adopts an inclusive understanding of disability consistent with contemporary approaches in social work.

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Mikuláš Jančura - Maroš Melichárek (eds.)

The textbook is derived from the outcomes of the eleventh annual student scientific conference, which took place in December 2022.

The student scientific conference is an integral component of the curriculum within the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ, and has been implemented since 2011. Its primary objective is to provide a platform for Bachelor's and Master's degree students to present segments of their original research as part of their thesis development.

The purpose of this textbook extends beyond the mere publication of these diverse thematic texts. It also strives to emphasize the significance of exceptional pedagogical initiatives and the added value of university education for students, manifested through the dissemination of their scholarly output.

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Ľubov Vladyková - Marián Bednár a kol.

The university textbook Ethics of Science and Technique (Selected Problems) is a collection of contributions by various authors who deal with selected problems and areas of science and technique. For the last hundred years, we can observe the rapid development of science and technique (technology). The transition of society in the 20th century into the information age and in the current 21st century into the digital age brings radical challenges and changes in all areas of human life, but especially in the moral field.

Ethical discussions, responding to the development of science and technique (technology), have stimulated the emergence of ethics of science and technique, which as a subdiscipline of applied ethics is a way out of the conflict between professional autonomy, social control and self-regulation of action and behaviour; not only in science and technique, but also in economy and politics. In the digital age, technique, technology and science are fundamentally changing our lives; from the way we work to the way we communicate, how we fight local and global problems, and how we try to solve societal problems.

These radical changes are not without controversy, and many provoke intense debates that are often polarized or associated with scientific ambiguities or dishonest demagoguery and ideology.

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Renáta Orosová (výkonný redaktor)

Vedecko-odborný časopis Edukácia je zameraný na problematiku vzdelávania a výchovy v oblasti základného, stredného a vysokého školstva. Zreteľ kladie na súčasný stav a perspektívy edukačnej praxe, aktuálne aspekty pregraduálnej prípravy učiteľov, sociálnej pedagogiky, špeciálnej pedagogiky, ako aj pedagogické a psychologické aspekty výchovy v základných výchovných inštitúciách z pohľadu širokej pedagogickej verejnosti. Je určený vedeckým pracovníkom, mladým vysokoškolským učiteľom, doktorandom, ako aj odborným a pedagogickým pracovníkom, s cieľom prezentovať trendy v edukácii a vyvolať diskusiu k aktuálnym otázkam prezentovaných oblastí výchovy a vzdelávania.

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Vladimír Lichner - Dušan Šlosár

Issues of punishment are directly linked to a state’s criminal policy, which is an inseparable part of its social policy. Historically, the state has held a unique dominant position in the realm of punishment. Once the conditions for imposing a penalty are met, the state fulfills its obligation by sentencing through independent courts. However, it does not address questions of satisfaction, which belong to the victim. The victim may be a specific physical person or legal entity that suffered harm due to the criminal act. This harm simultaneously affects civil society as a whole. The state prioritizes its duty to punish and decide on the matter over compensating the harmed individual or civil society.

By mediation in criminal cases, we mean extrajudicial facilitation of resolving disputes between the offender and the harmed party, with the assistance and personal participation of a mediator. The mediator, as an independent and impartial person, helps parties identify their interests and supports them in finding shared, practical, and realistic solutions to the points causing their conflict. Probation refers to monitoring, supervising the accused, defendant, or convicted individual, as well as providing individual assistance to the offender and encouraging them to lead a lawful life. This reduces the risk of recidivism, or repeated criminal behavior.

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Ján Hvozdík

With great interest, I read the proposal for the reissue of the monograph by Prof. PhDr. Ján Hvozdík, DrSc., Základy školskej psychológie (Foundations of School Psychology). It was an honor for me to be part of the editorial board for the new edition of the textbook.

The reissue comes at a time when school psychology seems to be experiencing a renaissance in its application. This is no coincidence, as the professor’s conception of school psychology as a theoretical-applied and integrated psychological discipline strives not only directly but also indirectly, through the pedagogical practice of teachers, to influence specific situations in educational practice within the school environment. From my perspective, I also appreciate the attention given in the textbook to the ever-relevant topic of self-directed learning, that is, the autodidactics of pupils and students. School psychology has become a core subject, within which its specializations are also realized.

It is worth mentioning the fact that, under the conditions of totalitarianism, the professor was not a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and yet he made significant contributions to the development of school counseling, both in theory and in practice, which commands respect and admiration. The reissue of the textbook is not an apology but rather a celebration of his positive contributions.

prof. PhDr. Ján Grác, DrSc.

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Lukáš Šutor (ed.)

The proposed anthology represents for many doctoral students their first entry into the publishing environment of scientific genres. The studies in such cases contain the essence of future dissertation works, which represent the creative pinnacle of doctoral studies. In addition to providing doctoral students with the opportunity to publish scientific outputs, we also consider the anthology a space for interdisciplinary encounters and mutual enrichment. However, interdisciplinarity is not merely a characteristic of the anthology as a whole but also of some studies.

Most notable interdisciplinary approaches are observed in literary studies. The traditional subject of research into artistic texts is enriched in individual studies by examining theatrical and film works (Peter Getlík), linguistic aspects of phrasemes (Ivana Hudiková), musical elements (Terézia Kulíková), visual art (Dominika Petáková), and digital spaces of new media (Alexandra Popovičová). From other disciplines, we highlight Miroslava Süčová Vernarská’s study, which extends psychological research into sociological and linguistically communicative contexts (the concept of metaphor), or conversely, Zuzana Šoltésová and Dušan Šlosár’s contribution, analyzing eating disorders from their disciplinary background in social work.

Both mentioned disciplines also include contributions with traditional research subjects. Nikola Fabiny from psychology analyzes consequence expectations in the context of goal selection and achievement. Jana Plavnická and Dušan Šlosár’s co-authored study from the Department of Social Work presents a multi-perspective analysis of integration barriers for immigrants in Slovakia. Within their own disciplines, both philosophy contributions operate: Juraj Brenišin interprets the ethical aspects of Avicbron’s Fons vitæ, while Michal Kručko examines Edmund Husserl’s unfinished work through a comparative lens of his students Jan Patočka and Roman Ingarden. The anthology concludes with Lukáš Lukačín’s study (written in English), which explores the semantic-grammatical category of modality in the verbs MAY and CAN within legal-administrative documents of the European Union.

The representation of academic disciplines and doctoral students’ individual creative outputs in Doktorandské miscelaneá 4 is thus appropriately diverse. We present this publication to the broader academic community as a representative overview of trends in young scholars’ thinking across the spectrum of humanities and social sciences doctoral programs at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice.

Lukáš Šutor

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Lukáš Šutor

Proceedings from the International Scientific Colloquium "The Folk Tale in Contexts" (December 12, 2022, in Košice)

We present the proceedings "The Folk Tale in Contexts" to the professional public as the outcome of the eponymous international scientific colloquium, which took place on December 12, 2022. Our aim was, among other things, to open a discussion on verbal folklore in broader interpretative, transcultural, and ultimately also interdisciplinary contexts—a goal that was achieved especially in the latter respect. Although the contributors primarily work in the fields of folklore studies and literary science, their methodological approaches from other—sometimes even more distant—disciplines expand the current discourse to a remarkable breadth. This is proof that research on the folk tale remains vibrant and open to new challenges.

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Gabriel Eštok - Mária Hrehová - Renáta Bzdilová (eds.)

Collection of contributions from II. year of the Student Scientific Conference held on May 17, 2013 by the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pavel Jozef Šafárik in Košice

The collection was created on the basis of an event with a thematically defined and political science, perhaps the most frequently discussed issue of democracy. I would add that the event was also attended by doctoral students of other fields of study, who analyzed the topic of democracy from positions other than political science. I very much welcomed the fact that a contribution from the legal issues of the European Union appeared in the proceedings. Enriching the collection is also a contribution from international political issues, which sheds light on democratic rules applied in territory other than European. Other contributions focus on various aspects of the creation of a democratic political environment in Slovakia and the European Union, while several sympathetic attempts at non-traditional perspectives on the development of civil society, public and party politics appear in them.

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Kristína Bosáková

The textbook for the course of Philosophical Anthropology should help the students of philosophy in major subject as much as of philosophy as minor in combination with other study programs in social sciences and STEM disciplines, to develop their own ideas and opinions about the question of human being in the philosophy. Its aim is to make a short introduction into the field of philosophical anthropology and to educate the students in the most important topics of the discipline.

Every chapter consist of the theoretical part and of the practical analysis of the text, which is followed by three questions at the end of each chapter. Students, who will later become the philosophy teachers, shall learn how to discuss and teach several topics from the philosophical anthropology in their future classes. Therefore, the textbook is suitable as much for the pedagogical as for the non-pedagogical study programs.

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René Šebeňa

The main goal of this textbook is to introduce selected experimental methods that have been developed to study various psychological processes.

Traditional textbooks on cognitive psychology usually offer a comprehensive system of theoretical knowledge and descriptions of experiments. However, we believe that for a deeper understanding, students need to have their own experience.

This textbook provides instructions on how to demonstrate, visually verify, and thereby better understand selected theories and phenomena through practical exercises. Such direct experience can help in the realization of their own projects.

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Eva Žiaková

Proceedings from the Scientific Conference with International Participation held on November 27, 2015 in Košice

Stress is becoming a part of everyday life in developed societies, which negatively affects both the physical and mental state of individuals. The proceedings from the scientific conference with international participation, titled "Forms of Internal and External Factors in Coping with Stress from the Perspective of Theory and Practice in Social Work," are therefore dedicated to the issue of coping with stress from an interdisciplinary perspective.

It addresses the full spectrum of coping issues, ranging from the most internal, specifically defined factors of the C-system of coping in oncology patients, coping with burnout in helping professions, sociological contexts of oncological diseases, through the level of social support that provides individuals with space for managing stress, to the possibilities of coping with stressful situations in various areas of life.

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Vladimír Leško - Zlatica Plašienková (eds.)

Philosophical Proceedings Kant in the Contexts of Husserl's and Heidegger's Philosophy is a presentation of the results of the Second International Philosophical Conference, which took place on November 5-7, 2008 at the UPJŠ in Košice.

The conference was prepared by the Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, UPJŠ in very close cooperation with the Slovak Philosophical Association at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. The structure of the presented proceedings was divided into three basic parts. The first part contains the papers that were presented at the conference and constitute a crucial part of the content of our proceedings. The individual papers are arranged in the order in which they were presented at the conference. The second part of the proceedings contains the speeches from the inauguration ceremony of the award of the honorary title of Doctor honoris causa to Milan Sobotka and Teodor Münz. In the third part, a photo-documentation is published in which the ceremonial academic act of conferring the honorary degree of Doctor honoris causa is captured. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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Zuzana Kolaříková - Helena Petruňová - Renáta Timková

English in the Academic Environment is intended primarily for those interested in improving their academic English and is primarily designed to fulfill the needs of university students and teachers who use English in their studies, in their work activities, and in their communication with foreign colleagues and professionals.

The publication offers selected phrases and sentence structures from the field of academic English, gives practical examples of the use of nominal, verbal and prepositional phrases, free and established collocations, idiomatic expressions, including translations of some selected phrases. It also highlights some common mistakes in the use of English in an academic environment, which are a manifestation of incorrect or insufficiently acquired linguistic resources and, last but not least, a consequence of the linguistic influence of Slovak.

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Ivica Hajdučeková - Iveta Bónová

https://unibook.upjs.sk/en/filozoficka-fakulta/995-masa-halamova-in-the-dar-cerveny-mak-smrt-tvoju-zijem-triad.html

The first personal monograph, On the Lyrical Triptych of Maša Haľamová (Life and Work), by co-authors Ivica Hajdučeková and Iveta Bónová, presents the results of archival research and analytical-interpretative insights into the structure of poetic texts. Life events at key points (V znamení osmičiek, Domov na brehu jazera, V ruchu redakčnej práce, Fáza po Mladých letách) are reconstructed based on autobiographical memories, archival documents, personal correspondence, as well as unpublished or published articles and interviews. An intriguing perspective on the author´s work is offered by self-referential notes and a reconstruction of opinions on her poetics and the artistic value of her poetry from the years 1928 – 2017, as expressed by contemporary and modern literary critics. The reconstruction of the genesis of the poem Dar (Gift), which relates to her connections with A. Kostolný and E.B. Lukáč, revealed the underpinnings of poetic inspiration and confirmed the productivity of archival research and exegetical methods. The analytical-interpretative insight into lyrical triptych Dar – Červený mak – Smrť tvoju žijem, realized through a spectrum of differentiated spirituality and the method of hermeneutic reading with an emphasis on the function of polyvocality, demonstrated that meta-empirical reality is shaped through natural imagery and the function of allusion. Across the three poetry collections, the lyrical parable and the process of spiritualization or spiritual growth of the lyrical subject are depicted, emblemized by the red poppy, blooming limber pine, and flowering moss. In conjunction with the analysis of the rhythmic-melodic structure of free yet phonetically organized verse – utilizing not only the folkloric inspirations of folk songs and ballads but also the religious tradition of spiritual hymns, prayers, and psalms – which confirmed that the poet´s sense and sensitivity for the „colourfulness“ of sounds and the „melodiousness“ of tones contributed to the architectural formation of the final form. This form is inseparably infused with the meta-empirical dimension of spirituality (eisos – eidos – Logos).

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