Supervisors & Proposed Research Topics
Supervisors & Proposed Research Topics (Sociology PhD)
Zoltán Kmetty: Understanding social processes through digital data
Detailed description: The explosion of digital data capture and storage and the general spread of digitalization has generated a volume of data in recent years that would have been unimaginable. This has opened up a new perspective for social and data scientists, fundamentally changing the way and means of knowledge production. The advantages of digital data have already been addressed in several studies in the literature, highlighting, among other things, the high temporal (and even spatial) granularity, the observation of actual behaviour as opposed to attitudes measured in surveys, or the potential for exploring interaction spaces. Of course, the analysis of digital data also has its difficulties, such as unstructuredness and noise, often lack of context, and problems of generalisability of the results due issues of the sample. The growing methodological issues in survey research (mainly sample selection problems) will make digital data increasingly valuable in the quantitative social sciences, despite the challenges that arise. This process has started not only in the international field but also in Hungarian sociology and political science, with an increasing number of studies based on digital data published in recent years.
The key to digital data analysis is getting high-quality data. There seems to be a vast amount of digital data available to almost anyone - data is pouring in from everywhere. But in practice, this is not the case. On the one hand, more and more companies are recognizing the value of their data assets and limiting access to data by external actors. On the other hand, tightening data protection regulations (especially in Europe) also narrow the scope of digital data available for research purposes. The solution to this problem can be data donation-based research. In this approach, we turn to the users and we leave out the platform providers and use the users data with their consent. This approach creates a clean legal environment for our data collection and allows us to combine additional survey data gathered from the participants.
Our research team (PI: Zoltan Kmetty) conducted a large-scale data donation project in 2023. We collected social media data (Facebook, Google, Instagram, TikTok) and survey data from more than 750 respondents. This unique dataset provides an opportunity for novel research on many different sociological and methodological questions.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Social sciences have started to make more intensive use of digital data in recent years. There are many areas of research where digital data can shed new light on issues that have been studied before. In addition to the potential methodological results, new data sources can also bring new knowledge from a substantive perspective.
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Freelon, Deen. 2018. Computational research in the post-API age. Political Communication, 35, no. 4: 665-668.
Breuer, J., Kmetty, Z., Haim, M., & Stier, S. (2022). User-centric approaches for collecting Facebook data in the ‘post-API age’: experiences from two studies and recommendations for future research. Information, Communication & Society, 1-20.
Boeschoten, L., Ausloos, J., Moeller, J., Araujo, T., & Oberski, D. L. (2020). Digital trace data collection through data donation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.09851.
Stier, S., Breuer, J., Siegers, P., & Thorson, K. (2020). Integrating survey data and digital trace data: Key issues in developing an emerging field. Social Science Computer Review, 38(5), 503-516.
Thorson, K., Cotter, K., Medeiros, M., & Pak, C. (2021). Algorithmic inference, political interest, and exposure to news and politics on Facebook. Information, Communication & Society, 24(2), 183-200. p: 11
Kmetty, Z., & Németh, R. (2022). Which is your favorite music genre? A validity comparison of Facebook data and survey data. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 154(1), 82-104.
Kmetty, Z., & Bozsonyi, K. (2022). Identifying depression-related behavior on Facebook—an experimental study. Social Sciences, 11(3), 135.
Further requirements: Basic R/Python Programing skills
Karolina Lendák-Kabók: Intermarriages and Identity Formation
Detailed description: Intermarriages and Identity Formation is a multifaceted topic with implications spanning across various fields. It is a rich ground for academic inquiry that can lead to valuable insights about human relationships, society, and cultural evolution. As the world becomes more interconnected, the rate of intermarriages between individuals from different countries or ethnic backgrounds is likely to increase. This offers a timely opportunity to study the implications of such unions in a globalized world.
Throughout history, intermarriages have often played pivotal roles in the formation of alliances, consolidation of power, or establishment of peace between different groups, tribes, or nations. Researching these marriages can provide a deeper understanding of historical events and geopolitical shifts. Intermarriages, by their very nature, involve the coming together of two different cultural or ethnic backgrounds. Studying these unions can offer insights into how different cultures intersect, adapt, and evolve over time, especially within the context of a marital relationship. The rate and acceptance of intermarriages can be a reflection of societal attitudes towards diversity, inclusion, and multiculturalism. Tracking and analysing these patterns can offer insights into larger societal trends and changing norms. Intermarriages often lead to complex negotiations of identity, both for the couple and for their offspring. How do individuals navigate their dual or multiple heritages? How does society perceive them? How do children from such unions view their own identities? These questions are rich with potential for academic exploration.
In many regions, laws and policies related to intermarriage have evolved over time. A PhD topic in this area can investigate the impact of such policies on individuals and communities, and how these policies might need further adaptation in the face of changing societal norms.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: While there is existing research on intermarriages and identity, a focused PhD study would delve deeper into the nuances and intricacies of how identity is negotiated within the context of an intermarriage. This could lead to more detailed and granular insights than broader studies. With global migration trends and the blurring of cultural boundaries, understanding the identity negotiations in intermarriages becomes increasingly relevant. A recent PhD research would reflect the realities of today's world, capturing the complexities of our globalized society. Existing research might have focused on certain prominent ethnic or cultural intermarriages. A new study could illuminate the experiences of under-researched or marginalized groups. The proposed topic could involve a comparative study of identity negotiations across different cultures, religions, or geographical regions. This could provide new perspectives on how varied cultural backgrounds impact identity formation in intermarriages. A PhD study could take a longitudinal approach, studying couples over several years to understand the evolving nature of identity negotiations throughout different stages of life. The topic sits at the intersection of sociology, anthropology, psychology, and cultural studies. An interdisciplinary approach could provide a holistic view of the topic, synthesizing insights from various fields. Given the personal and intimate nature of identity negotiations, this research could benefit from innovative qualitative methodologies and quantitative methodologies.
A fresh study could provide recommendations for policymakers on issues like multicultural education, social integration programmes, or counseling services, tailored to the needs of intermarried couples and their offspring. In essence, the proposed topic would not only expand the academic understanding of intermarriages and identity negotiations but could also have real-world applications, influencing policy decisions, therapeutic practices, and societal perceptions. Given the multifaceted nature of identity and the increasing prevalence of intercultural interactions, this research would undoubtedly contribute significantly to the field.
Language requirements: English (C1)
Literature in Hungarian:
Bukodi, Erzsébet. 2002. "Ki kivel (nem) házasodik? A partnerszelekciós minták változása az egyéni életútban és történeti időben." Szociológiai Szemle 2: 28–58.
Csepeli, György, Antal Örkény, and Mária Székelyi. 2002. Nemzetek egymás tükrében: interetnikus viszonyok a Kárpát-medencében. Budapest: Balassi.
Kiss, Tamás. 2016. “Asszimiláció és határ-megerősítés. Vegyes házasságok és a vegyes családokon belüli etnikai szocializáció Erdélyben.” In Média és identitás 2, edited by István Apró, 47–80. Médiatudományi Intézet.
Kovács, Mária. 2002. "Keveredés és identitás: Vegyes házasságok Magyarországon a 20. században." Szociológiai Szemle 12 (4): 79–98.
Karmacsi, Zoltán. 2021. "A kárpátaljai etnikai vegyes házasságok nyelvi szocializációjának jellemzői." Kétnyelvűség–oktatás–nyelvmenedzselés: 139
Kovály, Katalin, and Viktória Ferenc. 2020. “’Össze vagyunk mi itt keveredve’: etnikailag és felekezetileg vegyes családok döntési stratégiái a kárpátaljai magyar szórványban.” Regio: Kisebbség, Kultúra, Politika, Társadalom 28 (1): 70–105
Ladancsik, Tibor. 2020. “A nemzeti identititás formálódása a magyar-szerb vegyes házasságokban.” PhD diss., Debreceni Egyetem.
Literature in English:
Blau, Peter M., Terry C. Blum, and Joseph E. Schwartz. 1982. "Heterogeneity and intermarriage." American Sociological Review 47: 45–61.
Botev, Nikolai. 1994. "Where East meets West: Ethnic intermarriage in the former Yugoslavia, 1962 to 1989." American Sociological Review 59 (3): 461–480.
Brubaker, Rogers, Margit Feischmidt, Jon Fox, and Liana Grancea. 2018. Nationalist politics and everyday ethnicity in a Transylvanian town. Princeton University Press.
Burić, Feđa. 2020. "Sporadically Mixed: Lowering Socialist Expectations and Politicizing Mixed Marriage in 1960s Yugoslavia." In Intermarriage from Central Europe to Central Asia: Mixed Families in the Age of Extremes, edited by Adrienne Edgar and Benjamin Frommer, 83-109. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Cerchiaro, Francesco. 2022. “'When I Told My Parents I was Going to Marry a Muslim . . . ': Social Perception and Attitudes towards Intermarriage in Italy, France and Belgium.” Social Compass 69 (3): 329–345.
Dribe, Martin and Christer Lundh. 2012. “Intermarriage, Value Context and Union Dissolution: Sweden 1990—2005/Mariage mixte, contexte des valeurs et rupture d'union: Suède 1990—2005.” European Journal of Population/Revue européenne de Démographie 28 (2): 139-158.
Dumănescu, Luminița. 2017. “Being a Child in a Mixed Family in Present-day Transylvania.” In Intermarriage in Transylvania 1895-2010, edited by Ioan Bolovan and Luminita Dumănescu, 259–282. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition.
Goldstein, Joshua R., and Kristen Harknett. 2006. "Parenting across racial and class lines: Assortative mating patterns of new parents who are married, cohabiting, dating or no longer romantically involved." Social Forces 85 (1): 121–143.
Gordon, Milton M. 1964. Assimilation in American life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hărăguș, Mihaela. 2017. "Formation of Mixed Marriages." In Intermarriage in Transylvania, 1895-2010, edited by Ioan Bolovan and Luminita Dumanescu, 137–145. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition.
Hysa, Armanda. 2019. "Serbian-Albanian mixed marriages: When patriarchy breaks nationalist barriers." In Rethinking Serbian-Albanian Relations Figuring Out the Enemy, edited by Aleksandar Pavlović, Draško Gazela and Halili Rigels, 163–179. Routledge.
Ilić, Marija. 2010. "Coping with socially sensitive topics: Discourse on interethnic marriages among elderly members of the Serbian minority in Hungary." Balcanica 41: 33–53.
Jääskeläinen, Anni. 2003. "Intermarriage and segmented integration into Finnish society: Immigrant women from the former Soviet Union." Finnish Yearbook of Population Research: 33–54.
Kalmijn, Matthijs. 1998. "Intermarriage and homogamy: causes, patterns, trends." Annual Review of Sociology 24: 395–421.
Kiss, Tamás. 2018. "Assimilation and Boundary Reinforcement: Ethnic Exogamy and Socialization in Ethnically Mixed Families." In Unequal Accommodation of Minority Rights, edited by Tamás Kiss, István Gergő Székely, Tibor Toró, Nándor Bárdi and István Horváth, 459–500. Palgrave Macmillan.
Klein, Thomas. 2001. "Intermarriages between Germans and foreigners in Germany." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 32 (3): 325–346.
Lember, Uku. 2014. “Silenced Ethnicity: Russian-Estonian Intermarriages in Soviet Estonia (Oral History).” PhD diss., Central European University.
Merton, Robert K. 1941. "Intermarriage and the Social Structure." Psychiatry 4 (3): 361–374.
Milewski, Nadja, and Hill Kulu. 2014. "Mixed marriages in Germany: A high risk of divorce for immigrant-native couples." European Journal of Population 30 (1): 89–113.
Rodríguez-García, Dan, Miguel Solana-Solana, and Miranda J. Lubbers. 2016. "Preference and prejudice: Does intermarriage erode negative ethno-racial attitudes between groups in Spain?" Ethnicities 16 (4): 521–546.
Smits, Jeroen. 2010. "Ethnic Intermarriage and Social Cohesion. What Can We Learn from Yugoslavia?" Social Indicators Research 96 (3): 417–432.
Song, Miri. 2009. "Is intermarriage a good indicator of integration?." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35 (2): 331–348.
Stojanova, Meri. 2013. "Intermarriages–Crossing Political and Social Borders." Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne 04: 277–291.
Törngren, Sayaka Osanami, Nahikari Irastorza, and Miri Song. 2016. "Toward building a conceptual framework on intermarriage." Ethnicities 16 (4): 497–520.
Van Tubergen, Frank, and Ineke Maas. 2007. "Ethnic intermarriage among immigrants in the Netherlands: An analysis of population data." Social science research 36 (3): 1065–108.
Further requirements: Excellent background knowledge in quantitative and qualitative research methods
Máté Zombory: History and memory of antifascism
Detailed description: The topic lies at the intersection of the research fields of Memory Studies and the historiography of anti-fascism. It examines the following aspects of the last 100 years of anti-fascism from a historical and sociological perspective: a) antifascism as an ideologically diverse and international social movement; b) aesthetics: artworks (especially graphic arts, photography and film); c) social theory: social theoretical problematizations of the question of fascism. Focus on the interrelationship of these aspects is particularly encouraged. A transnational approach is expected. The method is optional.
Contribution of the proposed topic to existing research results: Emerging field, added value from its explorative nature.
Language requirements: English
Literature in Hungarian:
Kékesi Zoltán, Zombory Máté. ‘Antifasiszta emlékezet újragondolva. Magyar történeti kiállítások Oświęcimben és Párizsban 1965-Ben’. Korall. Társadalomtörténeti Folyóirat, no. 85 (2021): 138–68. https://doi.org/10.52656/KORALL.2021.03.007
Literature in English:
Braskén, Kasper, Nigel Copsey, and David Featherstone, eds. Anti-Fascism in a Global Perspective: Transnational Networks, Exile Communities, and Radical Internationalism. London New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2021.
García, Hugo, Mercedes Yusta Rodrigo, Xavier Tabet, and Cristina Clímaco, eds. Rethinking Antifascism: History, Memory and Politics, 1922 to the Present. New York: Berghahn Books, 2016.
Kékesi, Zoltán, and Máté Zombory. ‘Antifascist Memory Revisited: Hungarian Historical Exhibitions in Oświęcim and Paris, 1965’. Memory Studies 15, no. 5 (October 2022): 1087–1104. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211066582.
Kékesi, Zoltán, and Máté Zombory. ‘Beyond Multidirectional Memory: Opening Pathways to Politics and Solidarity’. Memory Studies, 5 June 2023, 175069802311760. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980231176040.
Seidman, Michael. Transatlantic Antifascisms from the Spanish Civil War to the End of World War II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Mária Arapovics: Impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on civil society cooperation
Description: In 2020, the coronavirus, SARS-COV-19, shook the world. It’s been a year of quarantine, lockdown, partial curfews, economic collapses, a lack of community activities and lots and lots of individual tragedies. How has civil society responded to the change? How does the epidemic affect our community relations? Research starts from this direction.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID19 – 11 March 2020. WHO.int, 2020. március 11. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-openingremarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020
Jamal, T. – Budke, C. 2020. Tourism in a world with pandemics: local – global responsibility and action. Journal of Tourism Futures. 6(2): 181-188.
World Health Organization. 2020. Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak, 18 March 2020 (No. WHO/2019- nCoV/MentalHealth/2020.1). World Health Organization
COVID-19 impact on culture: new funds must reach creative sectors immediately. 2020. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/hu/pressroom/20200326IPR75912/covid-19-impact-on-culture-new-funds-mustreach-creative-sectors-immediately
Péter Bodor: Microsociological Studies
Description: Microsociology is interested in the details and internal logic of everyday human conduct from a sociological and social psychological point of view. It seeks to understand the social and societal determinants mundane human behaviour: how do we produce such mutually intelligible behaviour such as queuing, walking on the street and doing conversation, and how do we produce everyday life and institutions in and through these practices. Various topics can be investigated within such a framework, from the organization of interaction, be it face to face or mediated, across sociological studies of emotions to textual and visual details of everyday life as they are depicted in cultural products. A successful PhD research projects on this field require both a keen interest in the related theoretical background and appropriate skills to accomplish the relevant thorough empirical research.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Péter, Bodor – Anikó, Illés: Possibilities of Analyzing Visual Conduct with an Eyetracker Device: Searching for Visual Dialects. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 44(2), 2008, pp. 197–213.
Erving, Goffman: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Dobleday, New York, 1959.
Eviatar, Zerubavel: The Social Organization of Attention. In: Hidden in Plain Sight. The Social Structure of Irrelevance. Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 49-71.
Ildikó Barna: Research on online hate speech and abusive language using the tools of natural language processing (NLP)
Description: The Research Center for Computational Social Science (https://rc2s2.eu) at ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences carries out research on various social phenomena and processes using the tools of natural language processing (NLP). One of the major research topics of RC2S2 is online hate speech and abusive language. Hate speech and abusive language can be directed against many types of ethnic, religious, social groups or minorities; therefore, there is space for a wide variety of research topics. In order to define the exact topic, the student should consult the supervisor before the application. During the doctoral programme, the student conducts their research by joining the RC2S2 research group.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: high proficiency in Python
Literature:
Barna, I. – Knap, Á. (2019) Antisemitism in Contemporary Hungary: Exploring Topics of Antisemitism in the Far-Right Media Using Natural Language Processing. Theo-Web 18 (1): 75–92.
Burnap, P. – Williams, M. L. (2016) Us and them: identifying cyber hate on Twitter across multiple protected characteristics. EPJ Data Science, 5 (11). DOI 10.1140/epjds/s13688-016-0072-6
Lóránt Dénes Dávid: Studies of Tourism Sociology in Hungary and Worldwide
Description: This topic focuses on an issue that highlights the importance of conducting sociological research in the tourism market. Although international and Hungarian research has been going on for several decades, nowadays new dimensions and trends have emerged in the field of this type of research. Changing the practice of travel decisions in itself offers many directions and tasks. New developments include, but are not limited to, emotions, sensory experiences, materiality, gender, ageing, ethics, sexuality, eating traditions, drinking culture, cultural anthropology, happiness, a sense of security, dangers, and the pandemic. It can be stated that in recent years the tourism sociology has been characterized by three general trends: the increasing use of special sociological studies in tourism, the study of new sociological aspects of tourism phenomena, and the causal relationships of tourism travel decisions.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Cohen, E. 2003: The Sociology of Tourism: Approaches, Issues, and Findings
November 2003, Annual Review of Sociology 10(1):373-392, DOI: 10.1146/annurev.so.10.080184.002105
Cohen, E. – Cohen, S. 2012: Current Sociological Theories and Issues in Tourism
October 2012, Annals of Tourism Research 39(4):2177–2202, DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2012.07.009
Scott A. Cohen &Erik Cohen 2019: New directions in the sociology of tourism
Current Issues in Tourism, Volume 22, Issue 2, (2019) pp. 153-172.
Sharma, R. 2020: Sociology of Tourism: Shifting Paradigm from Nostalgia to Happiness
Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Education (2020) 10, pp. 90-107.
Ákos Huszár and Júlia Koltai: Social Structure and Inequalities Through the Lens of Digital Data
Description: Since the digital revolution, people's lives have increasingly moved to the online space. Thus, the digitalization of society has opened new areas and also new challenges for social science research. Digital space both reflects the social inequalities that exist in offline space and creates new cleavages between social groups. However, even those theoretical models that sociologists have developed in great depth and detail in recent decades on the stratification of society, which include dimensions from the digital world, are mostly based on survey data. Nevertheless, self-reported survey can only capture these digital inequalities to a limited extent, as it is more capable of measuring attitudes than behavior. Thus, for the measurement of such digital differences, observation of people’s digital behavior can be a more suitable method. At the same time, digitalization also results in new types of data on our offline life. Everyday activities are recorded on a computer every second, such as the location, time, or length of our phone calls, or our credit card spending. Data from the observation of digital behavior and data generated by digitalization can help us extend or refine our knowledge about how society is structured and works.
The goal of this doctoral research would be to (1) create models which could predict social class purely from digital footprints of people by focusing on the digital behavioral differences of social groups defined by classical social structure theories, (2) detect new dimensions of social structure in the online space, with which existing theories could be extended or even new social stratification theories could be set, and (3) use digital, observational data to extend our knowledge about inequalities of between the different strata of the society. Data for the research is provided by the supervisors. Applicants should have strong quantitative skills.
Suggested literature
Bukodi E and Goldthorpe, J H (2019) Social Mobility and Education in Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bukodi, Erzsébet, Paskov Marii, and Nolan, Brian (2019): Intergenerational Class Mobility in Europe. Social Forces 98(3) : 941–972.
Chan, Tak Wing (ed.) (2010): Social Status and Cultural Consumption. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chan, Tak Wing and Goldthorpe, John H. (2007): Class and Status: The Conceptual Distinction and Its Empirical Relevance. American Sociological Review, 72(4): 512–532.
Evans, Geoffrey and Tilley, James (2017): The New Politics of Class. The Political Exclusion of the British Working Class. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hertel, Forian R. and Groh-Samberg, Olaf (2019): The Relation between Inequality and Intergenerational Class Mobility in 39 Countries. American Sociological Review, https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419885094
Klimova, A., & Rudas, T. (2012). Coordinate-free analysis of trends in British social mobility. Journal of Applied Statistics, 39(8), 1681-1691.
Kmetty, Zoltán, Koltai, Júlia, and Rudas, Tamás (2021). The presence of occupational structure in online texts based on word embedding NLP models. EPJ Data Science, 10(1), 55.
Savage, Mike – Devine, Fiona – Cunningham, Niall – Taylor, Mark – Li, Yaojun – Hjellbrekke, Johs. – Le Roux, Brigitte – Friedman, Sam – Miles, Andrew (2013): A New Model of Social Class: Findings from the BBC’s Great British Survey Experiment. Sociology, 47(2): 219–25
Ágnes Kövér-Van Til: Gender and Society
Description: The research examines the correlations and interactions between social and gender relations. With a specific gender approach to social history and social structure, it explores how gender determines social formations, power relations and arrangements; how it prescribes social opportunities for actors and creates limits on their behaviour and freedom; how gender regime engraves roles and norms, and how determines the social actors' life horizons. The research also analyses how science has constructed / constructs the concepts of woman and man and how these affect social visions and practices.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Bourdieu, P. 2001. Masculine Domination. London: Wiley-Blackwell
Collins, R. 1992. Women and the Production of Status Cultures. In. Lamont, M. – Fournier, M. (eds.) Cultivating Differences and the Making of Inequality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 213 – 231
Randall, V. – Waylen, G. (eds.) 1998. Gender, Politics and the State. London: Routledge.
László Kovács: Brands – meaning – society
Description: Brands are surrounding us in our everyday lives: besides influencing our consumer decisions, they are also able to communicate our preferences and identities. Deciphering this conveyed (communicated) meaning is only possible however, when a socially accepted meaning of the brand – a brand meaning negotiated by society –exists.
This socially accepted meaning may differ from the meaning the brand owner wants to communicate. To illustrate with an example: a fast-food chain, for example, advertises in vain that the sold food is healthy if in consumers (in society) the image is prevalent that the food in that chain is unhealthy. The same is true for some product categories: it is possible that a whole product category is condemned – or on the contrary, exalted – by society, making it difficult – or easy – for a brand to be accepted.
The research is based on brand association research, but it may also use various methods rooted in psychology and marketing.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Batey, M. (2015): Brand meaning. New York–London: Routledge.
Fetscherin, M.–Heilmann, T. (eds.) (2015): Consumer Brand Relationships. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Franzen, G.–Bouwman, M. (2001): The Mental World of Brands. Henley-on-Thames: World Advertising Research Center.
Franzen, G.–Moriarty, E. S. (2009): The Science and Art of Branding. Armork-London: M.E. Sharpe.
Hellmann, K-U. (2011): Fetische des Konsums: Studien zur Soziologie der Marke. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Holt, D. B. (2004): How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Kastens, I. E.–Lux, P. G. (2014): Das Aushandlungs-Paradigma der Marke. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
Kornberger, M. (2010): Brand Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
László Kovács: Short-term and long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic on consumer behavior
Description: As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, our consumer behavior has changed. Online shopping took over; demand for some product groups has declined while demand for others has increased. We also came across images of empty shelves and images of hoarding and panic buying.
The main question is, to what extent has our consumer behavior changed in the short and long term: have we experienced fluctuations in demand as a result of an unexpected event and our behavior has not changed in the long term; or has consumer behavior changed profoundly as a result of the events? For example: do we shop more responsibly and prudently; do we take into account possible shortages when shopping; how much do we take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital economy; or how did images and news of shortages affect individual purchasing behaviors?
The aim of the research is to analyse the changes in consumer behavior in the short and in the long term: on the one hand, how our consumption habits have changed in the short term (analysis of statistical and sectoral data), and on the other hand, what kind of long-term changes in consumer behavior took place. The analysis uses empirical data; e.g. big data or traditional questionnaires or interviews.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Belk, R. W. et al. (2013): Qualitative Consumer and Marketing Research. Los Angeles et al.: Sage.
De Mooij, M. (2004): Consumer Behavior and Culture. Thousand Oaks–London–New Delhi: Sage.
Evans, M. et al. (2019): Consumer Behaviour. Hoboken: Wiley.
Gröppel-Klein, A.–Kroeber-Riel, W. (2013): Konsumentenverhalten. München: Vahlen.
Lennerts, S. et al. (2019): Käuferverhalten. Stuttgart: UTB.
Schiffman, L. G. – Wisenblit, J. L. (2018): Consumer Behavior. New York: Pearson.
Solomon, M. (2013): Consumer Behavior. Harlow: Pearson.
László Kovács: Society going green
Description: We have recently observed that companies place emphasis on the sustainability and carbon neutrality of their products and services. Consumers also often take sustainability into account, when purchasing products.
The aim of the research is to examine – based on a product group – how companies CSR activities and sustainability-related communications (including e.g. images and labels on packaging; packaging materials) influence consumers' willingness to buy the product, and how communication on sustainability changes consumer attitudes and preferences.
The research can use secondary data (e.g. statistical data, data on consumer behavior) on the one hand, and primary data (big data, traditional questionnaires, interviews) on the other; but all research methods rooted in marketing/consumer behavior research/psychology are welcomed.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Altinbasak-Farina, I. – Burnaz, S. (2019): Ethics, Social Responsibility and Sustainability in Marketing. Wiesbaden: Springer.
Balderjahn, I. (2013): Nachhaltiges Management und Konsumentenverhalten: Sales Management in der Konsumgüterindustrie. München: UVK.
Belk, R. W. et al. (2013): Qualitative Consumer and Marketing Research. Los Angeles et al.: Sage.
Dahlstrom, R. – Crosno, J. (2017): Sustainable Marketing. Chicago: Chicago Business Press
Evans, M. et al. (2019): Consumer Behaviour. Hoboken: Wiley.
Iannuzzi, A. (2017): Greener products. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Lennerts, S. et al. (2019): Käuferverhalten. Stuttgart: UTB.
Martin, D. – Schouten, J. (2011): Sustainable Marketing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Meffert, H. et al. (2014): Sustainable Marketing Management: Grundlagen und Cases. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Peterson, M. (2012): Sustainable Enterprise: A Macromarketing Approach. Los Angeles et al.: Sage.
Schiffman, L. G. – Wisenblit, J. L. (2018): Consumer Behavior. New York: Pearson.
Solomon, M. (2013): Consumer Behavior. Harlow: Pearson.
Renáta Németh: Automated text analytics to contribute to sociological research
Description: Our RC2S2 research team uses methods of text mining to analyse textual data available on the internet or digitalized offline texts. The digital revolution not only brought new data sources, but also changed the society. As sociologists, our goal is to get to know this new type of society by using computational social science methods (here: natural language processing, NLP). The aim of our research group is to discover the social knowledge of this area, to develop and adopt new methods and to explore its epistemological consequences. The PhD candidate will join our research along these research questions. The doctoral research topic may be defined according the candidate’s own inquiry and our recent projects, so it is strongly recommended contacting the supervisor before the application procedure.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Further requirements: Python programming language and its NLP-modules, advanced quantitative methods
Literature:
Aggarwal, C. C., & Zhai, C. (Eds.). (2012). Mining Text Data. New York: Springer-Verlag.
DiMaggio, P. (2015). Adapting computational text analysis to social science (and vice versa). Big Data & Society, 2(2), 2053951715602908. doi:10.1177/2053951715602908
Evans, J. A., & Aceves, P. (2016). Machine Translation: Mining Text for Social Theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 42(1), 21–50. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-081715-074206
Garg, N., Schiebinger, L., Jurafsky, D., & Zou, J. (2018). Word embeddings quantify 100 years of gender and ethnic stereotypes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(16), E3635–E3644. doi:10.1073/pnas.1720347115
Németh Renáta; Sik Domonkos; Máté Fanni (2020): Machine learning of concepts hard even for humans: the case of online depression forums; International Journal of Qualitative Methods
Renáta Németh, Júlia Koltai: Sociological knowledge discovery through text analytics. In Rudas, Péli (szerk.): Pathways between Social Science and Computational Social Science - Theories, Methods and Interpretations, Springer, 2020. In press.
György Csepeli, Antal Örkény: Values and identities of the Visegrad countries' capitals
Description: This project focuses on values and identities connected to the concept of a nation in the V4 capitals. Capitals are perceived as centres of national pride (Therborn 2006) and at the same time they are multicultural environments where diverse people interact daily. Voting behaviour in V4 capitals differs from the remaining populations where they vote significantly less for parties that use nationalist rhetoric (see SPD (CZ), Fidesz, Jobbik (HUN), ĽS-NS (SVK), PiS (POL)). This indicates that the nationalistic rhetoric is not so efficient in these places. The goal of the project is to moderate the extreme use of national identities topics in public, both through accelerating discussion and public education. The project is based on the idea of plurality of identity (Parekh 2009; Shokev & Erez 2008). Within this, we want to focus on national and EU identity, nationalism, social affiliation, political commitment, solidarity and trust, crisis phenomena and security sentiment, political alienation, radicalization, marginalization and civic awareness.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
György Csepeli, Antal Örkény (2021) Nation and Migration: How Citizens in Europe are Coping with Xenophobia., Budapest: Central European University Press, 2021., https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46596, DOI https://doi.org/10.7829/9789633863664
Urszula Swadźba, Rafał Cekiera (2019) Social attitudes of the young generation in Visegrad Countries towards professional work, In book: Proceedings of the International Conference BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES: NEW CHALLENGES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, Publisher: Szent István University Publishing House DOI: 10.17626/dBEM.GSzDI25.P02.2018
Michaela Čiefová , Natália Goda (2019) Good Country Index – V4 Countries Comp, European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, September -December 2019 Volume 4, Issue 3,
PIOTR CICHOCKI AND PIOTR JABKOWSKI Immigration Attitudes in the Wake of the 2015 Migration Crisis in the Visegrád Group Countries: Comparative insights of ESS7 and ESS8, Intersections.EEJSP 5(1): 27-47. DOI: 10.17356/ieejsp.v5i1.480 http://intersections.tk.mta.hu
Miloslav Bahna (2018) Context Matters: Measuring Nationalism in the Countries 5 of the Former Czechoslovakia, Nationalities Papers (2018) 1–18, doi:10.1017/nps.2018.21
György Csepeli, Antal Örkény: European and Russian national identity, cultural diversity and political change
Description: The main aim of the proposal is to identify commonality and diversity in perception of Europe from the side of the EU and the nearest neighbour countries – Russia and Moldova, to propose the expert recommendations for development of the EU Partnerships Strategies with neighbouring counties.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
György Csepeli, Antal Örkény (2020): Nation and migration, Budapest: CEU Press
Antal Örkény, István Grajczjár, Zsófia Nagy: Solidarity in times of crisis – socio-economic change and political orientations in Austria and Hungary
Description: As a follow-up study to the earlier European research project SIREN, SOCRIS will map the perceptions of, and reactions to, socio-economic change and will link these to political orientation of people in Austria and Hungary. In doing so, it will explore the impact of the crisis on social cohesion and democratic development. It will show to which extent these developments have fuelled exclusivist, nationalistic and xenophobic attitudes and increased the attraction to the populist radical right. Conversely, the project will explore the emergence and strengthening of inclusivist and democratic-solidary political orientations. Regarding the latter, the project will break new ground in showing under which circumstances people are attracted to, show support for or even actively engage in forms of universalist and inclusive actions of solidarity. The SOCRIS project will analyse individual reactions to the crisis as being influenced by people’s particular employment and working conditions, their class positions in the sense of social milieus and the value judgments and political orientations these may imply, by the protection or exposure people experience depending on their social status as well as by shifting feelings of belonging.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
2018: / István Grajczjár,Zsófia Nagy, Julia Hofmann, Antal Örkény/ “Routes to right-wing extremism in times of crisis An Austrian-Hungarian comparison based on the SOCRIS survey”, Socio.Hu, Social Science Review, Cultural heritage and social cohesion: Special issue in English No. 6 (2018), https://socio.hu/uploads/files/2018eng_culther/2018eng_grajczjar.pdfDOI: 10.18030/socio.hu.2018en.95
2019: „Different Types of Solidarity in Times of Crises: A Changing European Landscape” / István Grajczár, Zsófia Nagy, Antal Örkény/, Intersections.EEJSP 5(1): 118-142. DOI: 10.17356/ieejsp. v5i1.475 https://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/issue/current
György Csepeli, Antal Örkény: Inclusive and innovative practices for the integration of recently arrived migrants in local communities
Description: The project comparatively assesses the effectiveness of integration policies and practices in major migrant-receiving spaces, in local communities, ranging from urban spaces to rural areas. This should include migrants’ access to civic and social rights, social services and facilities (e.g. language tuition and healthcare) in accordance with their legal status, as well as intercultural interaction (including gender aspects) and adaptation to increased diversity of the population. The project is focussing on social cohesion and societal fragmentation, and how these aspects are accounted for in migrant integration policies.
The urban and rural governance of integration processes shall be analysed against the backdrop of a broader multi-level governance framework, whereby potential and real tensions between the local and other levels of governments will be explored. Attitudes to migration and integration by both migrants and the host communities will be studied as well. The role of religious communities could also be examined in relation to outcomes of integration processes.
The project is carried out by research communities from 9 European countries including Hungary. The cross-national comparative research will be carried out between 2021 and 2025.
There are 9 participant countries in the project, and the cross-national comparative research will be carried out between 2021 and 2025.
Number of positions: 1
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Meeus, Bruno, Karel Arnaut and Bas Van Heur, eds. 2019. Arrival Infrastructures: Migration and Urban Social Mobilities. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Zoltán Gábor Szűcs: Fiction and political theory
Description: Descriptions of imagined lands and utopian republics, narratives of philosophical journeys, arguments from myths, visions of a state of nature that no one could see in person, thought experiments, analyses of literary texts have always played a considerable part in political theorizing and even in our days, popular culture provides many useful illustrative examples for students of politics. The research focuses on the multifaceted (meta)theoretical problems raised by using these materials as instruments of theorizing.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
A. Baumeister – J. Horton eds.: Literature and the Political Imagination
B. Crick: Essays on Politics and Literature
P. Euben, Greek Tragedy and Political Theory
H. M. Holland ed., Politics through Literature
M. Nussbaum: The Fragility of Order, Therapy of Desire,
M. Shapiro, Reading the Postmodern Polity: Political Theory as Textual Practice
M. Whitebrook ed.: Reading Political Stories: Representations of Politics in Novels and Pictures
B. Williams: Shame and Necessity
C. Zuckert: Natural Right and the American Imagination: Political Philosophy in Novel Form
Zoltán Gábor Szűcs: Political obligation, legitimacy, and authority
Description: The moral justifiability of a duty of obeying the laws and of the existence of a legitimate authority having the right to issue binding commands have often been called the foundational questions of normative political theory. Many other problems seem to emanate from these questions (including the issues of distributive and criminal justice, freedom, rights, democracy). The research will look into newer proposals and ask whether it is possible to move forward by introducing new theoretical perspectives (like political realism) into the debate or to address certain problems traditionally not covered by theories of political obligation.
Number of positions: 2
Language requirements: English
Literature:
Buchanan: Justice, legitimacy, self-determination;
Dworkin: Law’s Empire;
Estlund: Democratic Authority;
Gans: Philosophical anarchism and civil disobedience;
Gilbert: A Theory of Political Obligation;
N. Hirschmann: Rethinking Obligation;
J. Horton: Political Obligation,
M. Huemer: The problem of political authority ;
G. Klosko: Political Obligations;
D. Mokrosinska: Rethinking Political Obligation;
AJ. Simmons: Moral principles and political obligation;
A. Stilz: Liberal loyalty;
R. Vernon: Cosmopolitan regard;
RP Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism