ABSTRACT

Vaskovics, László
The Sociological Theory of Postadolescence

The are countless references to the development of a new phase of life between childhood and adulthood (referred to as post-adolescence) in the technical literature of Sociology. Different theoretical models have been developed in Sociology to interpret post-adolescence. After the discussion of the these models, a new model is introduced in this contribution. The forms and "timing" determining how and when young people leave their parents' house is regarded as the most important constitutive characteristic of the post-adolescent phase in this model. It is thereby assumed, that this detachment from the parents' house is dependent upon surrounding macro-structural social conditions.

In this model, the following detachment dimensions are regarded as significant:
– legal dimension
– household dimension
– economic-financial dimension
– social dimension
– emotional dimension

The analysis of the process of detachment based upon these dimensions reveals, that postponed partial detachment, successive detachment, and reversible detachment are all constitutive elements of post-adolescence. The fact, that young people who have reached legal adulthood remain in many respects dependent upon their parents, remains an important facet of post-adolescence. The analysis also reveals, that post-adolescence can not be clearly defined based upon the criteria of age, with regard to "youth" or "adulthood". It is therefore an empirical question, who and how many members of a specific age category of young adults (i.e. 20-25 years or 30 year olds) find themselves in the post-adolescent phase according to the theoretically proven criteria.


Magyar, Gábor-Páll, Kinga Ágnes-Szabó, Andea-Szabó, Máté
Demonstrations and Their Protest Policing in Budapest
(1996-1997)

The paper focuses on the double topic of protest and protest policing in a new democracy, Hungary. Hungarian protest groups underwent radical changes, from samizdat culture to a more instrumental identity and a more visible and mediated activity. Police had also to break with the past and look for new, democratic models of protest policing. The repressive, state and political police needed a new definition of police practices and role in a new political system under public scrutiny and with western co-operation. How did both actors, the police and civil society, reconstruct their identity, their organisation and role in this new context? How did these actors evolve since the 1989 democratic transition? What problems and expectations became crucial?

We introduce three central concepts of our study. We argue that police can basically choose between the classical model of state police and a more recent model of citizen police. The adoption of one of the two models depends on several factors, such as political tradition, political coalition around notions of civil rights, and the strength of civil society and the public sphere. Organised protest itself needs a dense network of associations of civil society and its form or repertoire depends on the level of police repression, rules of access to the media and the existing political institutions. The public sphere, which is our third central topic, will be analysed to show how both protest and protest policing are framed in the public discourse and who, as social or political group, has access to this public sphere. We argue that the type of public sphere is an important factor in explaining both police and protest.

The study shows that the more attention is paid by the media to public order operations, the less emphasis is on the coercive means of the police. This evolution can explain to some extent the emphasis put by the police institution on improving their public relations. In a rather crude manner we can say that there is an evolution within the police institution from a state police model towards a citizen police model. The public reactions expressed in the press and political coalitions are major variables explaining the practices of police during protest events. Public reactions do not necessarily coincide with a civil rights oriented police but "moral panics" are always possible and, especially during crisis, the law and order coalition can emerge as the winner of the frame of struggle for public order. However, we can expect that the degree to which the police are responding to public opinion depends on the strength of civil society and the independence of the press. In recent democracies, as in Hungary, civil society has not fully developed and remains weak. We can expect the police to be more dependent on political coalition than in democracies with a fully developed civil society. Protest movements do not always attempt to directly influence political decision-making, but they can use the media in order to put topics on the political agenda. The more open the media are to groups in civil society, the more likely that these groups will use peaceful types of action. However, to access the public sphere often needs to enhance the news value of protest action and, in this sense, requires some degree of rule-breaking. In conclusion, protest and protest policing involve at least three important variables. The first one is the state, state actors, which can be more or less open and more or less repressive. The second one is civil society. When civil society is weak, protest is unlikely as well as control over police by society. The third is the public sphere. If the public sphere is power-oriented (Habermas) and excludes groups from civil society, we are likely to observe more radical actions. The more democratic the public sphere, the more chances are that protest will adopt only a limited rule-breaking behaviour.


Letenyei, László
Rural Innovation Chains
Two examples for diffusion of rural innovations

A chain of innovation is a social network, defined by offering or adopting an economic innovation. The main hypothesis is that the diffusion of rural innovations and the changes of life-style of the peasants (generally: the growth of market economy) do not necessarily restructure or destroy local networks, but in some cases they will be reinforceed.

There are two different forms of economic behaviour: that of the innovator and of the model imitator. The innovator is an entrepreneur in Schumpeter's sense: an economic actor implementing innovation. Other entrepreneurs do not innovate so they copy the existing economic models.

The members of peasant societies are mostly model imitators. This economic behaviour is based on peasant social networks: prestigious people are also recognised as economic examples to be followed, so their innovations will be accepted. On the other hand, the strongly tied rural actors, who worked mostly together and represented many times their relationship with all due solemnity, are socially urged to help their smaller relations even with economic advice. If the example is to be the entrepreneur, many connected households will be also entrepreneurs - but not necessarily innovators. There will be new technologies adapted in the community; even life-style will change, but not the social networks that present major stability.

To illustrate this hypothesis there is the description of two cases of anthropological fieldwork conducted in rural areas. One is the example of an indigenous community of the Peruvian Andes and the other one is of a Hungarian village.


Veres, Valér
Collective Identity of Transylvaniaan Hungarians and Romanians as Reflected by Social Structure

The topic of the paper is the analysis of the formation of collective identity and the manifestation of people who live in ethnically mixed areas. Collective identity, and especially national identity, manifests itself in different modalities in keeping with the social status of the persons, and this aspect has to be kept in view for an adequate analysis of collective identity. I would like to present the analysis especially for Western Romania called Transylvania.

For obtaining a view of the social structure, we analysed the social stratification using an adaptation of the Erikson - Goldthorpe model. The differentiated analysis of identity according to social stratification is necessary because the identity scheme, the national and political socialisation levels are different in the case of intellectuals and of manual workers.

For empirical analysis the main source was the databases from the "Carpathian Basin" project (Nov. 1997), with a representative sample of 1841 persons from Transylvania, with an over-represented Hungarian sub-sample of 1126 cases.

By analysing the collective identification from a social stratification perspective, we can notice that the cultural dimension of the identity of persons belonging to the social strata of the higher status and qualification is stronger than that of the persons with a low social status. At the same time, the civic (citizen) dimension of the identity of persons with low social status is relatively stronger. The role of citizenship is more important among the Romanian majority than among the Hungarian minority. The role of exclusive, ethnocentric attitudes is greater among the Romanians from Northern Transylvania (Cluj-Kolozsvar, Oradea zone) than in Southern Transylvania (Brasov, Sibiu-Hermannstadt zone).

Common elements can be found in both the collective identity of the majority and minority, which - in spite of social and regional differences - show us that the nation-building processes are completed and the national identity structures are well defined. In case of the majority we can observe a gradual decrease of the importance of the type of cultural national identity.


Csizmady, Adrienne
Changes in the Situtation of Housing Estates of the Capital in the Property Market after Systemic Change

The paper presents research findings on changes in the property market position of the large housing estates of Budapest. During the last ten years the relative position of large housing estates has been decreasing, even faster, than it had before 1990. This trend was still not big enough to make these flats assailable. The result is, that the status of these housing estates has remained a somewhat middle-class one. The reason is, that the number of newly built flats continues to be very low in Budapest. That is why housing estates remain for certain groups of the middle class to be suitable places for living. When the speed of construction of new housing will be higher, some estates will face the danger of falling into slum-situation.


Gyukits, György
The Role of Social Capital in the Interest Assertion of Physicians

The study examines the role of social capital in enforcing physicians' interests. Based on an empirical sociological survey, we wanted to find an answer to the question of what is the role of the Chamber of Physicians and that of the trade union in enforcing interests after the change of the regime (1989). The findings of research have been described in the form of case studies. The case studies deal with the following themes: conflicts between the boss and the subordinate, wage disputes, winding up of workplaces, privatisation. The case studies indicate that the physicians' interpersonal relations are decisive in enforcing their interests. This can be explained by the fact that using interpersonal relations as resources is a much more efficient means for enforcing their interests than relying on an organisation.