Memorial of Ing. Jiří Čejka, DrSc. (1929-2025)

The article investigates long-term trends in the work ethic in the Czech Republic and Slovakia from the perspective of modernisation theory. In particular, it examines whether the work ethic in the two culturally similar societies decreased during the years of growing material prosperity and whether this trend originated in intergenerational population replacement. The study uses data from three pooled waves of the European Values Study (EVS) covering the period 1999-2017 to which it applies the linear decomposition technique and multivariate statistical analysis. The results show that, even though the work ethic decreased in the Czech Republic and increased in Slovakia, intergenerational population replacement contributed to its weakening in both countries. Furthermore, the results indicate that the reason this process dominated the overall trend in the Czech Republic but not that in Slovakia may be the historical differences in levels of socioeconomic development and the different paces of population replacement. Finally, tentative evidence in favour of modernisation theory is presented, indicating that population replacement universally contributed to a decrease in the work ethic in all the other European countries with comparable EVS data.

The paper examines the role of a favourable milieu in the region and the notion of social capital, work ethics and mutual confidence. Results of an empirical survey conducted among the foreign entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic are presented in the paper. The survey revealed opinions of foreign investors on cooperation and communication with various institutions in their environment. It also answered questions on the willingness to cooperate and the possibility of creation of cooperation networks of Czech and foreign firms in the local economy and analysed opinions and ideas about the general quality of the Czech entrepreneurial environment. Key words: Foreign investors, socio-institutional environment, entrepreneurial environment, Czech Republic, structured interviews, pilot study.

David Stanley Precious (1944-2015)

This article explores how family caregivers employed in precarious jobs reconstruct their moral selves in line with and in resistance to neoliberal ideals of responsibility and autonomy. The analysis of semi-structured interviews with parents and people providing care to a close relative, all working in precarious forms of employment and living in low-income households, shows that in a familialist and neoliberal context, precarious, nonstandard forms of employment and caregiving mutually reinforce each other. This relationship became even more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study shows that precariously working caregivers perform different types of ‘moral work’ in their efforts to maintain dignity. By moral work, we understand the activity of attaching a moral value to a phenomenon, behaviour, person or attitude. Such moral work both adheres to and challenges the dominant neoliberal norms of responsibility and autonomy. The effort to fulfil the two non-compatible norms of ideal worker and perfect caregiver, and the moral work they perform to reclaim their moral selves through care, however, locks caregivers further into precarious employment and contributes to a deepening of their vulnerability.

Sociology has long treated the work ethic as a key lens for analysing the ideological shifts of capitalism. Drawing on ethnographic research in emerging ethical enterprises in the Czech Republic, this article explores work subjectivity and attachment to work among novice ethical entrepreneurs and employees, termed the ‘solutionist work ethic’ (Morozov, 2013; Nachtwey & Seidl, 2020). The study examines the internal logics and contradictions of this ethic by analysing how shifting capitalist norms and values are lived and negotiated by working subjects. It further explores the solutionist ethic’s effects on dynamics between employers and employees and on their career trajectories. In particular, it considers the resilience of ethical businesses and the role of the solutionist work ethic in sustaining them in challenging times. While providing insight into the exploitative nature of the solutionist work ethic, the article also challenges the notion that workers can seamlessly transform into capitalists.

Although public debates emphasize a weakening of work values and ethics over the last few decades, little attention has been paid to the transmission of work values between parents and children. It is still unclear what kind of parental behavior is critical and if culture influences the intergenerational transmission of work values. Based on socialization and value transmission theories, we explore the question by comparing three countries with different cultural characteristics: Czech Republic, Spain, and Turkey. We used data from the CUPESSE project collected from young adults aged 18 to 35 and their parents. Turkish young adults and parents reported higher levels of moral- and gender-based work values than their Spanish and Czech counterparts. Parent-child similarity in work values was the highest among the Turkish families and the lowest among the Czech families. Overall, we find that stronger moral and redistributive work values and weaker gender role–based work values are associated with high levels of parental warmth and autonomy granting and low levels of perceived psychological control. Results suggested that family climate, rather than specific paternal and maternal parenting behaviors, have more substantial effect on the value transmission. We discuss implications that consider the role of cultural orientation and gender roles.

This study offers theoretical explanations and distinctions associated with the phenomenon of conscience in social work. It uses the perspective of Roman-Catholic theology, or more precisely of the Roman-Catholic Church. It briefly reflects on an anthropology of conscience and then contemplates the essence of conscience and its relationship to the truth. In the reflection on the contradiction between Christian and secularized morality (given by the renowned Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar 1905-1988), it shows the importance of conscience in the value inconsistencies of the attitudes of today’s world. Finally, based on the impulses of the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis Amoris laetitia (2016), it reflects on practical impulses concerning the place and importance of conscience in social work.

BACKGROUND Despite reductions in exposure for workers and the general public, radon remains a leading cause of lung cancer. Prior studies of underground miners depended heavily upon information on deaths among miners employed in the early years of mine operations when exposures were high and tended to be poorly estimated. To strengthen the basis for radiation protection, we report on follow-up of workers employed in later periods of mine operations for whom we have more accurate exposure information and for whom exposures tended to be accrued at intensities that are more comparable to contemporary settings. METHODS We conducted a pooled analysis of cohort studies of lung cancer mortality among 57,873 male uranium miners in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the United States, who were first employed in 1960 or later (thereby excluding miners employed during the periods of highest exposure and focusing on miners who tend to have higher quality assessments of radon progeny exposures). We derived estimates of excess relative rate per 100 working level months (ERR/100 WLM) for mortality from lung cancer. RESULTS The analysis included 1.9 million person-years of observation and 1217 deaths due to lung cancer. The relative rate of lung cancer increased in a linear fashion with cumulative exposure to radon progeny (ERR/100 WLM=1.33; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.88). The association was modified by attained age, age at exposure, and annual exposure rate; for attained ages <55 years, the ERR/100 WLM was 8.38 (95% CI: 3.30, 18.99) among miners who were exposed at ages >=35 years and at annual exposure rates <0.5 working levels. This association decreased with older attained ages, younger ages at exposure, and higher exposure rates. CONCLUSIONS Estimates of association between radon progeny exposure and lung cancer mortality among relatively contemporary miners are coherent with estimates used to inform current protection guidelines.

European Journal of Lipid Science and TechnologyVolume 102, Issue 10 p. 633-635 Dossier Trans unsaturated fatty acids in European nutrition Walter Schwarz, Corresponding Author Walter Schwarz walter.schwarz@setuza.cz SETUZA AS, Ústí nad Labem, Czech RepublicSETUZA AS, CZ-401 29 Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. Phone: +420-47529-1111, Fax: +420-47529-3999Search for more papers by this author Walter Schwarz, Corresponding Author Walter Schwarz walter.schwarz@setuza.cz SETUZA AS, Ústí nad Labem, Czech RepublicSETUZA AS, CZ-401 29 Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. Phone: +420-47529-1111, Fax: +420-47529-3999Search for more papers by this author First published: 05 October 2000 https://doi.org/10.1002/1438-9312(200010)102:10<633::AID-EJLT633>3.0.CO;2-ICitations: 12AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume102, Issue10October 2000Pages 633-635 RelatedInformation

Climate variability in the Stephanian B based on environmental record of the Mšec Lake deposits (Kladno–Rakovník Basin, Czech Republic)

The objectives of the study are to determine the main ethical factors related to human information interactions. The main research question was: What is the perception of ethical issues of information work and future topics of information ethics in digital environment? A brief analysis of related ethical issues of information is presented. The main applied methodology was a Delphi study on information ethics with selected experts from Slovakia and Czech Republic. The data were analysed with the use of mixed methods of discourse and content analyses and conceptual modelling. We present results of the discourse analyses (first round, 19 experts; discussion, 6 experts). Results are interpreted with regard to the ethical issues of work with digital information, main ethical dilemmas of the use of advanced technologies, and values of information. Results are visualised in three conceptual maps. A final conceptual model represents the epistemic consensus of experts, including social and cultural rules, value tensions between man and technologies, and utility, truth, and objectivity of information. We propose to include the identified ethical factors into models of human information behaviour. Recommendations for practice focus on value-sensitive design of digital services and products in the intercultural contexts of information literacy, education, science, workplaces, and everyday information use.

Nowadays, similar to worldwide trends, running has become very popular in the Czech Republic. Since the mid of 1990s, the business sector has become very active in this area. Private companies organise many road races for the public, including participation of top level runners (i.e. Prague International Marathon). In 2016, within the framework of the international project IRNIST, we realised an empirical descriptive study of the Mattoni ½ Marathon in Ústí nad Labem, a middle size town. The IRNIST questionnaire was used. Analysing data on 491 runners (of 2,238 runners finished the race) we found that concern-ing socio-economic status of respondents, 56.9% of runners have a university education, one third advanced secondary education; and 63% earn more than the average wage. Participant were able to spend quite a lot of money for participation costs. These results raise the issue if the privatization and commercialization of running for the masses does not cause limit for sport participation for all.

In the Czech Republic, the lack of qualified teachers and the will to increase the accessibility of teacher education has driven the emergence of the ‘combined form of study’, which is now an established form of professional training for teachers. This paper presents the combined study programme for prospective teachers of German as a foreign language at the Department of German Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic), and draws parallels and comparisons with the face-to-face form.

Coal mining has proven negative impacts on the landscape and health of inhabitants. Solid dust particles and SO2, which are the main polluting substances in coal mining and burning, are the main causes of diseases in areas with intensive coal mining. This contribution deals with areas in the Czech Republic which have the greatest problems in this regard, being North Bohemia (Chomutov, Most, Teplice and ústí nad Labem districts). It is an area with considerable anthropogenic activity, mainly due to the intensive mining of brown coal, which has a direct effect on the health of the inhabitants of the entire ústí nad Labem region. Along with the growing number of inhabitants, energy consumption demands are constantly increasing. Nevertheless, it’s important to focus primarily on renewable energy sources, which will ensure the sustainable development of the environment and society. At the same time, the question arises, which energy sources can potentially be utilized here after mining ends (2052). In terms of geography, wind energy has the greatest potential in this area. This and associated issues are dealt with by the project “Sustainable Forms of Management in an Anthropogenically Burdened Region” at the Faculty of Environment at the University of Jan E. Purkyně in ústí nad Labem.

The paper deals with analyses of composition and structure of historic plasters from the convent building of the Želiv Monastery (Czech Republic). Composition and microstructure of plaster samples taken from the historic object have been assessed using both traditional and advanced analytical methods. The following techniques have been used for the assessment of binders and fine aggregates in plasters: optical microscopy of thin sections, mineralogical and petrographic analysis of separated components, infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. Presented results show significant differences in character of the studied materials of varying age and demonstrate the effectiveness of the taken analytical approach.