Papers by Alica Brendzová
Crime Prevention in Socially Excluded Localities: A Handbook aims at formulation of instruments a... more Crime Prevention in Socially Excluded Localities: A Handbook aims at formulation of instruments and measures leading to decrease in crime, victimization and social harm in socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic. Social exclusion is a condition that certainly has impact on security and crime; however, its causes are often structural and go far beyond the scope of traditional crime prevention. This handbook goes beyond this narrow approach to crime prevention and proposes policy measures in manner and range corresponding with the depth and breadth of social exclusion as a complex social phenomenon. This makes the handbook distinctive and non-standard in certain aspects.
In contrast with traditional crime-prevention handbooks (or handbooks in general) which tend to focus on a single problem or the utility of a specific policy measure, this handbook covers a wide range of issues. It deals with eight categories of crime prevention which are to some extent specific for socially excluded localities: property crime, loansharking (usury) and debts, frauds related to the poverty business, violent crime, hate crime, domestic violence, public order, and drug abuse. In these categories, the handbook proposes more than 130 specific policy measures whose projected social impact lies far beyond the scope of social exclusion.
The handbook stresses specific situational and social policy measures as well as long-term policies dealing with structural problems that reproduce or deepen social exclusion and its symptoms. Many security problems are deeply connected to the socio-economic condition of inhabitants of socially excluded localities and their limited social mobility. The measures centre on the local level and actors that operate there. To be truly effective, these measures have to be supported by more systemic and structural measures such as a Social Housing Law to make affordable, non-segregated public housing systematically available for anyone in need, or an Insolvency Law, allowing debt relief for people unable to escape the debt trap.
The handbook offers knowledge and usable crime prevention measures to deal with the problems produced by social exclusion. It proposes established as well as new approaches and techniques operating on various levels of social and situational crime prevention and dealing with identification, prevention and reduction of security risks, including social tensions. The handbook, especially the material included within the annex, is intended as a tool for all subjects and actors who deal with crime prevention in socially excluded localities at the local, regional as well as national level.
Czech Sociological Review
* Autorský kolektiv děkuje kolegům a kolegyním, kteří se na výzkumu podíleli, a především samotný... more * Autorský kolektiv děkuje kolegům a kolegyním, kteří se na výzkumu podíleli, a především samotným obyvatelům ze sociálně vyloučených lokalit, kteří se výzkumu zúčastnili. Současně děkujeme anonymním recenzujícím za připomínky, které výrazně napomohly ke zkvalitnění studie.
Obchod s chudobou se stal důležitou metaforou současné debaty o bezpečnosti v sociálně vyloučenýc... more Obchod s chudobou se stal důležitou metaforou současné debaty o bezpečnosti v sociálně vyloučených lokalitách. Pojem „obchod s chudobou“ a rozsah obchodních praktik zaměřených na nejchudší a nejzranitelnější skupiny obyvatelstva. Cílem této práce je prozkoumat mediální reprezentace tohoto jevu pomocí kvantitativní a kvalitativní analýzy dat. Nejprve jsou analyzovány charakteristiky českých mediálních zpráv včetně pojmu „obchod s chudobou“. Dále představíme události, o nichž bylo v určitých obdobích publikováno nejvíce textů. Tyto události lze považovat za klíčové milníky referování o obchodu s chudobou v českých médiích, tvořící jeho obsah. Zatřetí jsme korpus podrobili frekvenční analýze, abychom zjistili, o čem texty zmiňující obchod s chudobou pojednávají.Poverty business has become an important metaphor in the current debate regarding security in socially excluded localities. The term poverty business covers a range of business practices aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable ...
Interview with Hannah Schling
Studia Ethnologica Pragensia, 2019, 1, 89-93, 2019
Interview with Hannah Schling about her research of work
Studia Ethnologica Pragensia, 2019
Metodika prevence kriminality v sociálně vyloučených lokalitách (Crime Prevention in Socially Excluded Localities: A Handbook)
Mining for crime: Reflection of victimization survey in Czech socially excluded localities
Community Gardens: The Perspective of Urban Anthropology
Práca sa zaoberá fenoménom komunitných záhrad z pohľadu urbánnej antropológie. Komunitné záhrady ... more Práca sa zaoberá fenoménom komunitných záhrad z pohľadu urbánnej antropológie. Komunitné záhrady sú chápané ako špecifické miesta na pomedzí verejného a súkromného priestoru. Práca je výsledkom niekoľkomesačného terénneho výskumu v dvoch komunitných záhradách v Prahe.Katedra antropologieObhájenoThe topic of the thesis is the phenomenon of community gardens which are seen as specific places bordering between public and private space. The thesis is based on fieldwork conducted in two community gardens in Prague
Sociálně vyloučené lokality z pohledu sociodemografických ukazatelů =The demographics of socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic
Although it is sometimes claimed that the Czech Republic has been unaffected by the problem of gr... more Although it is sometimes claimed that the Czech Republic has been unaffected by the problem of growing social inequality, a portion of the country’s population continues to be labelled ‘socially excluded’, a term that refers to the population living in ‘socially excluded localities’ and is also generally assigned to persons of Roma nationality/ethnicity. This paper attempts to fill in the gaps caused by the lack of comprehensive information on this ‘hard-to-survey’ population using selected findings from a quantitative victimisation survey carried out in municipalities in the Czech Republic in which a socially excluded locality had been identified by the government-commissioned 2015 Analysis of Socially Excluded Localities in the Czech Republic. The survey (N = 2 566) included almost half of all the socially excluded localities identified in 131 municipalities, which were selected so as to vary in size and ratio of their socially excluded population to the total population. In addition to this, a smaller survey (N = 590) was carried out among the general population in these municipalities in order to provide comparative data. The aim of the analysis comparing the data on the surveyed population to the general Czech population was to examine the socially excluded localities as residential units that are distinct in their social and demographic composition. Compared to the general population, the inhabitants of socially excluded localities are less likely to be married, more likely to have had only (some) primary education, less likely to be economically active (i.e. currently employed), more likely to live in households with a relatively lower monthly income, more likely to be renting their homes from private landlords and to share home with a relatively higher number of persons per household, more likely to have lived at their present address and in the present municipality for less than five years, and more likely to self-identify as Roma. The socially excluded population has thus proven to be a distinct segment of Czech society with specific socio-demographic characteristics.
Studia Ethnologica Pragensia, 2019
In the present article, we reflect on the victimization survey conducted as part of the research ... more In the present article, we reflect on the victimization survey conducted as part of the research project BRIZOLIT (Security Risks in Socially Excluded Localities). Our main focus is on the methodological, epistemological and ethical problems which appeared during the survey among inhabitants of the so-called socially excluded localities in April — August 2016. More specifically, we will deal with the issues related to the construction of our research object, interviewing strategies, as well as problems of validity of survey data with regard to the complex processes of victimization in socially excluded localities. In other words, we will try to answer three rather basic questions: "Who did we research? How did we do it? How did we record our findings?" and hope to provide clues for future researchers facing similar problems.
ÚVOD Vzrůstající sociální nerovnost v zemích euroatlantické ci-vilizace je v současné době diskut... more ÚVOD Vzrůstající sociální nerovnost v zemích euroatlantické ci-vilizace je v současné době diskutována nejen tradičními odpůrci tržní ekonomiky a kapitalismu, ale i jeho zastánci a širší veřejností. Stalo se tak mimo jiné i díky populari-zaci knihy Kapitál v 21. století Thomase Pikettyho (2015), podle níž žijeme v období, ve kterém sociální nerovnost dosáhla historicky nejvyšší míry a akumulace bohatství se týká čím dál tím užší skupiny lidí, jak potvrzují i jiné studie (např. Atkinson, 2015). V České republice se debata o sociální nerovnosti zpravidla omezuje na konstatování, že tento problém se naší společnosti jako celku netýká, jelikož jsme na základě statistických ukazatelů v tomto ohledu považováni za premianty v rámci Evropské unie (kriticky viz Mysíková, 2016; Večerník-Mysíková, 2015). Za výjimku potvrzující pravidlo je považovaná ta část populace, pro kterou se vžilo eufemistické označení sociálně vyloučená, která žije v tzv. sociálně vyloučených lokalitách (dále jen SVL) a...
Land, 2021
Czech agriculture is dealing with the consequences of climate change. Agroforestry cultures are b... more Czech agriculture is dealing with the consequences of climate change. Agroforestry cultures are being discursively reintroduced for better adaptability and resilience, with the first practical explorations seen in the field. Scholars have been working with farmers and regional stakeholders to establish a baseline for making agroforestry policy viable and sustainable. In a research effort that lasted three years, a large group of Czech farmers was interviewed via questionnaire surveys, standardized focus groups and in-depth personal interviews regarding their knowledge of agroforestry systems, their willingness to participate in these systems, and their concerns and expectations therewith. The information obtained helped the researchers gain better understanding of issues related to implementation of these systems. It was found that although trees are present on Czech farms and farmers appreciate their aesthetic and ecological landscape functions, knowledge about possible local syner...
Středoevropské politické studie Central European Political Studies Review, 2018
Poverty business has become an important metaphor in the current debate regarding security in soc... more Poverty business has become an important metaphor in the current debate regarding security in socially excluded localities. The term poverty business covers a range of business practices aimed at the poorest and most vulnerable populations. The goal of this study is to examine media representations of the phenomenon using content analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. First, characteristics of Czech media messages including the term “poverty business” are analysed. Next, key events are identified which have shaped the way poverty business is reported on in the analysed corpus. Finally, topics, groups and key actors are analysed based on the development of their quantitative representation in the corpus over time.
Trends in Organized Crime, 2021
This paper is guided by the question: How do illicit practices of organized groups contribute to ... more This paper is guided by the question: How do illicit practices of organized groups contribute to the formation and reproduction of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Czechia? By asking this question we depart from the dominant understanding of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the study of organized crime. Instead of seeing them as "breeding grounds of organized crime", it is explored how regular neighbourhoods can decline as a result of illicit practices carried out by certain organized groups. The context of the paper is the so-called "poverty business", which refers to the renting of overpriced, substandard housing, financed considerably using housing benefits and thus exploiting the housing need of vulnerable social groups, namely Roma. Using the literature on Roma marginalization and illicit housing practices, an analytical framework that consists of the concepts of speculation, exploitation and liquidation is created and applied to two cases of disadvantaged neighbourhoods: "the Hostel" in Brno and "the Neighbourhood" in Litvínov. In conclusion, the adequacy of the organized crime perspective is critically discussed and the need for further research articulated.
Acta FF
The poverty business has recently become a frequent issue in public discourse. The Program Declar... more The poverty business has recently become a frequent issue in public discourse. The Program Declaration of the Government of the Czech Republic also reflects this, as the poverty business is mentioned here in relation to the abuse of the welfare system through overpriced lodging houses. In spite of the political significance of the poverty business, the research on this issue has been scant. No attempt has even been made to clarify the meaning of this concept. This study is meant to be a first step in understanding the poverty business in the Czech context; it aims to explore how this phenomenon was represented in the Czech news media. The research was based on the theory of representation and qualitative content analysis, a method that was devised for thematic analysis of media content. The data were drawn from the Anopress IT database. Out of 1,277 texts containing the term "poverty business" and similar relevant terms, 66 texts were selected for the analysis. The analysis found that the poverty business is mainly presented as a matter of housing; however, other meanings were also identified, all of which were connected to the idea of exploitation of the poor and vulnerable segments of society. The victims of the poverty business include not only the clients of poverty entrepreneurs but also other people who were categorized according to their alleged decency or indecency. The consequences of the poverty business were seen as relating to clients, interethnic coexistence and the public administration. The main subjects identified in media communications were the state, municipality, and poverty entrepreneurs, who played the role of culprits, profiting subjects, and rectifiers. To conclude, the poverty business was represented as a highly politicized issue that concerns the misuse of housing benefits and is seen both as a socioeconomic and ethno-cultural problem. The solution to the poverty business was mostly conceived as a technical intervention into the welfare system, ignoring the agency of the victims of the poverty business.
Walach, kupka, Lupták, Tvrdá, Toušek, Brendzová, Plachý, vanková Abstract In the present article,... more Walach, kupka, Lupták, Tvrdá, Toušek, Brendzová, Plachý, vanková Abstract In the present article, we reflect on the victimization survey conducted as part of the research project BRIZOLIT (Security Risks in Socially Excluded Localities). Our main focus is on the methodological, epistemological and ethical problems which appeared during the survey among inhabitants of the so-called socially excluded localities in April — August 2016. More specifically, we will deal with the issues related to the construction of our research object, interviewing strategies, as well as problems of validity of survey data with regard to the complex processes of victimization in socially excluded localities. In other words, we will try to answer three rather basic questions: „Who did we research? How did we do it? How did we record our findings?“ and hope to provide clues for future researchers facing similar problems.
Vydání knihy je podpořeno z projektu Ministerstva vnitra "Bezpečnostní rizika sociálně vyloučenýc... more Vydání knihy je podpořeno z projektu Ministerstva vnitra "Bezpečnostní rizika sociálně vyloučených lokalit: Vytváření znalostí a nástrojů pro management a prevenci kriminality" (BRIZOLIT), identifikační kód: VI20152018022.
Rozvíjení vztahu ke krajině a možnosti primárního vzdělávání
Envigogika
Recenzní úvod disertační práce Ing. arch. Kristýny Staré, obhájené na Fakultě architektury ČVUT, ... more Recenzní úvod disertační práce Ing. arch. Kristýny Staré, obhájené na Fakultě architektury ČVUT, Praha, v roce 2019. Stávající kurikulum umožňuje začlenění tématu krajiny s využitím poznatků oboru architektura a urbanismus do výuky na základních školách s cílem podpořit vzdělávání vedoucí k uvědomělé a občansky angažované společnosti. Obvykle se však tyto vstupy omezují spíše na mimořádné projekty a programy nabízené externími odborníky, především z nestátních neziskových organizací. Disertační práce Kristýny Staré prověřuje možnosti, jak podpořit a rozvíjet vztah dětí raně školního věku ke krajině prostřednictvím integrace témat oboru architektura a urbanismus do kurikula primárního vzdělávání. Zaměřuje se na české prostředí s přihlédnutím k zahraničním modelům jako volné inspiraci. Ve vlastním výzkumu jsou využity kvalitativní i kvantitativní metody aplikovaného společenskovědního výzkumu. Stěžejní zdroj dat představují polostrukturované rozhovory s tzv. ohniskovou skupinou, která...
Rozvíjení vztahu ke krajině a možnosti primárního vzdělávání
Envigogika
Recenzní úvod disertační práce Ing. arch. Kristýny Staré, obhájené na Fakultě architektury ČVUT, ... more Recenzní úvod disertační práce Ing. arch. Kristýny Staré, obhájené na Fakultě architektury ČVUT, Praha, v roce 2019. Stávající kurikulum umožňuje začlenění tématu krajiny s využitím poznatků oboru architektura a urbanismus do výuky na základních školách s cílem podpořit vzdělávání vedoucí k uvědomělé a občansky angažované společnosti. Obvykle se však tyto vstupy omezují spíše na mimořádné projekty a programy nabízené externími odborníky, především z nestátních neziskových organizací. Disertační práce Kristýny Staré prověřuje možnosti, jak podpořit a rozvíjet vztah dětí raně školního věku ke krajině prostřednictvím integrace témat oboru architektura a urbanismus do kurikula primárního vzdělávání. Zaměřuje se na české prostředí s přihlédnutím k zahraničním modelům jako volné inspiraci. Ve vlastním výzkumu jsou využity kvalitativní i kvantitativní metody aplikovaného společenskovědního výzkumu. Stěžejní zdroj dat představují polostrukturované rozhovory s tzv. ohniskovou skupinou, která...
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Papers by Alica Brendzová
In contrast with traditional crime-prevention handbooks (or handbooks in general) which tend to focus on a single problem or the utility of a specific policy measure, this handbook covers a wide range of issues. It deals with eight categories of crime prevention which are to some extent specific for socially excluded localities: property crime, loansharking (usury) and debts, frauds related to the poverty business, violent crime, hate crime, domestic violence, public order, and drug abuse. In these categories, the handbook proposes more than 130 specific policy measures whose projected social impact lies far beyond the scope of social exclusion.
The handbook stresses specific situational and social policy measures as well as long-term policies dealing with structural problems that reproduce or deepen social exclusion and its symptoms. Many security problems are deeply connected to the socio-economic condition of inhabitants of socially excluded localities and their limited social mobility. The measures centre on the local level and actors that operate there. To be truly effective, these measures have to be supported by more systemic and structural measures such as a Social Housing Law to make affordable, non-segregated public housing systematically available for anyone in need, or an Insolvency Law, allowing debt relief for people unable to escape the debt trap.
The handbook offers knowledge and usable crime prevention measures to deal with the problems produced by social exclusion. It proposes established as well as new approaches and techniques operating on various levels of social and situational crime prevention and dealing with identification, prevention and reduction of security risks, including social tensions. The handbook, especially the material included within the annex, is intended as a tool for all subjects and actors who deal with crime prevention in socially excluded localities at the local, regional as well as national level.