My advantage is the comparative perspective, says an American professor at our faculty Steven Saxonberg

Do rubriky Věda napsala Martina Tesařová (Úterý, 6. prosinec 2011)

With Steven Saxonberg on his current fields of research, comparisons on educational systems in the USA, Sweden and the Czech Republic and how the years of communism in the Czech Republic influenced the modern way of thinking.

(medailonek) Prof. Steven Saxonberg, Ph.D.

professor of Sociology at Faculty of Social Science, Masaryk University
works at the department of Social Policy and Social Work
holds Ph.D. in Political Science
has been a researcher and lecturer at various universities and academies of sciences (selection) in Sweden, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, UK
has published books on family policies in European countries, the fall and legacies of the communist regimes in Europe, etc.
lives in Prague

Mr. Saxonberg, what kind of research do you do at our faculty?

There are quite many. At Masaryk University I am at the department of Social policy and Social work. Lots has been made on family policy, gender relations and how policies are made. In 2011 we published a book where we wrote about the mythology in the Czech republic that the day care for children under three called “jesle” is bad for children. It is interesting that when it comes to family policy I realized that people who have real influence here are Christian fundamentalists. The Czech Republic is the most secular country in the post communist world and one of the most secular in Europe. But the groups of catholic psychologists and evangelical preachers have a lot of influence on policy making. And it is almost like a virtue not to be interested in what scientific research says on the topic.

What other research concerning family policies do you carry out?

We are interviewing families in different countries about how they are making their decisions for their own children and what role culture has in influencing their ideas.

Welfare is one of the fields of your research activities, but you have also published books on democratization, namely on communist regimes in the Eastern Europe.

Yes, I have a minor research about democratization. My first book was on why the communist regimes collapsed in central Europe and why they collapsed differently. I have book coming out with Cambridge University Press soon about why there are still some communist regimes. Everyone including myself wrote that they collapsed but they are still existing in Cuba, North Korea, China, and Vietnam. I have a fourteen countries study take up everything like Ethiopia, Romania and so on.

Will you cover every communist regime?

Well, originally we were going to be three authors and then I had to write the book myself. So I had to leave Bulgaria and Albania out. But fourteen is still a good number.

You have lived in many different countries. Do you consider it is necessary to spend some time living in the country you have a research on?

Well, of course it depends. Now I am writing a book that covers the Spanish inquisition. I can´t go back in time. (laugh) There are some people who devote their life to write about one country either their own, or another. I see myself having the advantage of the comparative perspective. I see some things that others don´t, being an outsider it makes me take things more critically.

Can you make a comparison on students at Masaryk University to other universities you have taught at?

Every system is different. Growing up in America I would hate to be a professor there because everything is about grades. I remember at my university at eleven at night you could not find a seat – that hard everybody studies because you have to get really good grades. If I wanted to give a student a C he or she would never get to a Harvard business school. In Sweden the feedback is important and nobody cares about the grades. Unfortunately, at Masaryk University I discovered that to average students the grades do not matter at all, like in America. Maybe culturally you do not have that strong work ethic and you do not have financial aids so most students have to work and when you apply for a job the employers do not care about grades, just the diploma and the work experience is most important.

My field of study at the Faculty of Social Studies are environmental studies. Therefore as last I wanted to raise the topic of the perception of environmental issues in the Czech society. Why do you think it is still a marginal topic? I heard an opinion that it is also a matter of more women participating in politics. That it may be women who will bring these topics into the public discourse.

I think, and the same with the women movement, you were cut from the international discourse for a long time and that there is a leading neoliberal hegemony in the Czech Republic. On one hand people believed what communists said about communism and environmentalism that these are the terrible things coming from the west. At the same time democracy also came from the West. So they are selective on things that came from the West. So maybe people are still thinking in this modern, industrial way, rather than in a post-modern way. But as incomes rise in the Czech Republic, post-modern values, such as the quality of life and living in a good environment are gaining support. We start to see changes, like the Green Party, but even this is interesting that they choose to cooperate with the right not the left wing and were not able to do much.