The Public Show Between Tradition and Modernity. Celebrations, Ceremonials, Pilgrimages and Tortures

Spectacolul public între tradiţie şi modernizare

Author(s): Nicoleta Maria Hegedűs / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Spectacolul public între tradiţie şi modernizare /The Public Show Between Tradition and Modernity. Celebrations, Ceremonials, Pilgrimages and Tortures, Constanţa Vintilă-Ghiţulescu, Mária Pakucs Willcocks (eds), Romanian Cultural Institute, 2007, 303 pp.

Demographic Ageing Risk in the Land of Năsăud - Causes and Impact

Demographic Ageing Risk in the Land of Năsăud - Causes and Impact

Author(s): Oana Ramona Ilovan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: the Land of Năsăud; demographic risks; regional disparieties

Modernisation of society has reflected itself in people's professional structure, in economic and professional profile diversification, in higher territorial mobility (migration), in birth rate decrease and in less numerous families, in religion pluralism, and in the educated ones'diversified structure. The Land of Năsăud (a region in Bistriţa-Năsăud County, in the north of Romania) offers an example of the regional impact of some factors such as unsuccessful Romanian social and economic practices or the promise of a better life and of a more grateful society to those who work, to be found only abroad. The changes characteristic of the people's demographic behaviour in the Land of Năsăud, far from being watched with calm or with bitterness, they surely point out a negative trend for the future of the region: the human resource diminishes and loses some of its attributes.

Transylvanian Children. The demographic dimension of childhood at the Romanians from Transylvania

Transilvania copiilor. Dimensiunea demografică a copilăriei la românii ardeleni

Author(s): Bogdan Iancu Crăciun / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Luminiţa Dumănescu: Transilvania copiilor. Dimensiunea demografică a copilăriei la românii ardeleni/Transylvanian Children. The demographic dimension of childhood at the Romanians from Transylvania. Cluj-Napoca, 2006.

What does Marriage Homogamy Mean in the Czech Milieu?

What does Marriage Homogamy Mean in the Czech Milieu?

Author(s): Petr Fučík,Beatrice-Elena Chromková Manea / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: marriage; education; age; homogamy; attitudes; heterogamy

This article tackles the issue of marital homogamy in the Czech Republic using paired-data gather in 2005 on a representative sample of people aged 20-40. The aim is to find an answer to the question whether homogamy or heterogamy has any practical meaning for people who live either in marriage or in cohabitation, to explore the differences in opinions with regard to marriage, childcare, gender roles and the reconciliation of family and paid work. We hypothesize that heterogamous couples will be more distant in their attitudes than homogamous couples. The results point out that the homogamy and partners’ closeness in answers are not related. Few explanations are offered in the end as a possible answer to why the working hypothesis was rejected.

Transylvanian Law Regarding Children (1780-1834)

Transylvanian Law Regarding Children (1780-1834)

Author(s): Luminiţa Dumănescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: children; Transyvania; law; children's welfare

This work is based on a series of decrees issued by authorities of the Transylvanian Principate between 1780-1834. The purpose for indexing and interpretating these documents was to discover those references making the child related issues a distinct point in the Transylvanian laws at the border between 18th and 19th. The documents that were identified and analyzed draw some light on the laws concerning the family and the child (these latest being of special interest), in use in Transylvania until the Austrian Civil Code of 1853. The aim of researche was to put accent on one of the multiple approaches of child related problems. I had a particular interest in seeing sources that had the potential of offering answers to this problem. So, in this paper I interpreted several imperial and gubernial decrees and ordinances, in order to see if this problem was already a distinct one at the dawn of the modern Romanian Transylvanian world.

The Demographical Evolution of the Zone of Cristuru Secuiesc between 1880-1930

The Demographical Evolution of the Zone of Cristuru Secuiesc between 1880-1930

Author(s): Enikö Veress / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: modernity; industrialisation; capitalism; social structure; periphery-centre

All over Europe the 19th century is being considered as the most dynamical period of social change. In most cases this concept is related to industrialisation and modernisation. This is mainly true for almost all of the regions from Central and Eastern Europe where the transition to modernity has meant the great step from the mainly agrarian economy to modern capitalist structures. Framing it in this historical background this paper intends to show some of the demographical aspects of how this change has ocurred in a rather peripheral zone from Transylvania, Cristuru Secuiesc. This will be done with the help of historical demographical data that reflect the level of structural changes in this area.

The Debut of Sexual and Contraceptive Life of Romanian Women

The Debut of Sexual and Contraceptive Life of Romanian Women

Author(s): Cristina Oaneş / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: Romanian women; first sexual intercourse; contraception; intergenerational and socio-demographic differences

The paper is constructed around the experience of the first sexual intercourse , which designates of a person in the adult sexual life. The recent studies show that the entrance in the sexual life in Romania takes place earlier for the younger generations, as compared to the older ones, this reality being accompanied by the progressive separation, in the last seventeen years, of the sexual life from the context of marriage. This goes togeder with what happened earlier in other western European countries. To support this idea, the paper offers a short international outline about the entry into adult sexuality, from a comparative point of view. The paper aims at the analysis of the moment of sexual initiation for different age-group and to the comparision of the tendecies for ten cohorts of women aged between 18-84 who belong to a representative sample taken from the national research Demography and Lifestyle of Romanian Women, carried out in 2004. In addition, the paper lauches a short discussion about some socio-demographic factors that shape the initiations of the sexual life (place of residence, historical region, education and religion). The paper begins with a brief overview of the main aspects of the socio-economic context of sexuality in Romania, using data from the four successive reproductive health surveys carried out in Romania between 1993 and 2004, and from the survey on the student's sexuality carried out in 2002. An examination of the age of the first sexual intercourse on cohorts and of the relationship between the moment of the sexual life initiation and the socio-demographic characteristics of Romanian women follows up next. The last section of the paper examines the level of contraception used at the first sexual intercourse, taking into account the different conditions of life of women in Romania. Where necessary, the paper stresses on the differences between males and females referring to the experience of the sexual debut. The paper ends with some concluding remarks.

Towns in the Western Field. Urban Structures and Functionalities

Oraşele din Câmpia de Vest. Structuri şi funcţionalităţi urbane

Author(s): Oana Ramona Ilovan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Voiculescu, Sorina (2004), Oraşele din Câmpia de Vest. Structuri şi funcţionalităţi urbane (Towns in the Western Field. Urban Structures and Functionalities), Editura Universităţii de Vest, Timişoara, 253 p.

From Community to Society. Studies on the History of the Family in Walachia under the Ancient Regime

De la comunitate la societate. Studii de istoria familiei din Ţara Românească sub Vechiul Regim

Author(s): Crinela Elena Holom / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

De la comunitate la societate. Studii de istoria familiei din Ţara Românească sub Vechiul Regim / From Community to Society. Studies on the History of the Family in Walachia under the Ancient Regime, Bucharest, Romanian Cultural Institute, 2007, 295 p.

Is Romania Going Toward the One Child Family Model?

Is Romania Going Toward the One Child Family Model?

Author(s): Mihaela Hărăguş / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: fertility intentions; Romania; first and second child; urban and rural areas; logistic regression

The fall of the socialist regime brought a dramatic drop in fertility levels in our country: from a (period) total fertility rate of 2.2 children/woman in 1989 to that of 1.3 children/women in 2004. Fertility in Romania decreased not because a significant increase in the proportion of childless women, but because the massive drop in second and higher order births. More and more, the one child family model becomes popular in Romania, in especially in urban areas. We may wonder whether the one child family would become the norm in our country, or the two or more children family would survive, especially in rural areas. We take a first step in the attempt to study this issue and analyse fertility intentions of Romanian women, in urban and rural areas. We made our investigations by means of logistic regression of data from two national surveys, both conducted in 2004:Demography and Lifestyles of Romanian Women and Reproductive Health Survey.

Community Selectivity of Temporary Emigration from Romania

Community Selectivity of Temporarry Emigration from Romania

Author(s): Dumitru Sandu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: temporary emigration; communities; Romania

The paper examines the key patterns of temporary emigration from Romania after 2000 by reference to origin communities. Individual and regional criteria are used as to give the context of migration selectivity. The relation between community profiles and migration characteristics are different function of the regional context: Emigration patterns are context bounded (work emigration is favoured by rural residence in Moldova historical region but in Transylvania has a higher probability for city dwellers; life satisfaction plays differently for work vs. non-work intentions to emigrate etc.) A five-class typology of communities from the migration point of views allwed for capturing basic patterns of community selectivity (as opposed to individual selectivity) or temporary emigration. There are clear sign for the existence of different cultures of (e)migrations: Community structure of emigration seems to be better structured than the regional culture of phenomena; Moldova, by its more developed communes is one of the very few regions of the country with a well structured culture of migration; Transylvania is the favoured place for non-work migration and South regions are the locus for low temporary emigration. Policy implication are derived from analysis. They support the view that migration and development policies should rely not only on country and sectoral inputs but also on origin community characteristics. Poor communities of low temporary emigration deserve a special attention. Distinction between work vs. non-work emigration communities and those between low and high temporary emigration all could be relevant for designing migration and development policies. The paper relies on large census and survey data that support reciprocally in a multilevel approach.

Similarities and Differences between European Countries Taking in Consideration Socio-Economic Factors

Similarities and Differences between European Countries Taking in Consideration Socio-Economic Factors

Author(s): Ioana Simina Sas,Lucia Ţiplea,Anuța Buiga / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: cluster; factor analysis; HDI; EU- 27; EFTA

In this study we classified the 27 EU members and other countries, such as Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland ( the last three are EFTA – European Free Trade Association- members) using data from European Union Labour Force Survey ( EU- LFS), a demographic study made in 2005 by Eurostat. At that time Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were official candidates at the EU. The variables taken to account refers to population classified by gender and age, active and inactive, rates and labour field, level of education and usual hours worked per week. Because the variables were too many, 86, we tried to minimize that number using principal component analysis (PCA). The classification of those states is based on the six factors resulted of PCA, which explains adequate the studied phenomenon. Using Cluster Analysis each country would be a member of the fifth groups and the states would be similar in each group taking in consideration all the factors, but the groups would differ significantly.

The Population of the Gilau Domain in the 17th Century

Populaţia domeniului Gilău în secolul al XVII-lea

Author(s): Ioan Bolovan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Şarolta Solcan, Populaţia domeniului Gilău în secolul al XVII-lea / The Population of the Gilau Domain in the 17th Century, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, Bucharest, 2006, 214 pages

The Historical Banat (1867-1918). The Settlements and the Population

Banatul istoric (1867-1918). Aşezările. Populaţia

Author(s): Adrian Bucur / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Ioan Munteanu, Banatul istoric (1867-1918). Aşezările. Populaţia / The Historical Banat (1867-1918). The Settlements and the Population, Timişoara: Excelsior Art Publishing House, 2006, 428 p.

The Demographic Situation in Germany. An Overview

Die Demographische Lage Deutschlands.Ein Überblick.

Author(s): Wilfried Heller / Language(s): German / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: demographic transition; Germany; causes and consequences of population decline; social policies

Germany is a state that now belongs to the category of states with Lowest Fertility Rates from a comparative perspective. The conditions for this situation are to be found in the early '70 of the XX century. The interplay between fertility rates, mortality rates and migration can help us to understand and explain this demographic phenomenon. It is clear that the decline of population was counterbalanced by immigration. But it seems that this resource is not able any more to stop the numeric reduction of population and the process of over-aging of the age structure of the population from Germany. Effective social and pronatalistic policies are needed in the future.

Local Population Studies

Local Population Studies

Author(s): Luminiţa Dumănescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Book Review on Local Population Studies, No. 78, Spring 2007

Populations Geography

Geografia populaţiei

Author(s): Oana Ramona Ilovan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Ungureanu, Alexandru, Muntele, Ionel (2006), Geografia populaţiei, Editura Sedcom Libris, Iaşi, 313 pp. “Population Geography” (Geografia populaţiei – the book was written in Romanian) draws the reader’s attention through its authors’ scientific background and scientific contentsof the book itself. Both “identification elements” are situated on the same qualitative level. Professor Alexandru Ungureanu, from the Faculty of Geography and Geology of “Al. I. Cuza” University in Iaşi, is a correspondent member of the Romanian Academy (a title he received for his large scientific activity in Geography, as he is representative for the geographical research in Romania). Co-author to this book is Ionel Muntele, professor in the same faculty and, at the same time, main researcher in the Geography Team of the Romanian Academy branch in Iaşi. Professor Muntele is specialised in the subject of this book.

Demographic Phenomena and behavior in Transylvania During World War I

Demographic Phenomena and behavior in Transylvania During World War I

Author(s): Ioan Bolovan,Sorina Bolovan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1-2/2007

Keywords: Romania; Transylvania; Word War I; demographic behaviour

As in other territories, during World War I in Transylvania there were significant political and military, social and economic, but also cultural and mentality mutations that influenced the demographic situation of the province. The dynamics and the structure of the population in Transylvania during this period accurately mirror both the domestic and the international circumstances that caused ampler or less perceptible variations in demographic behavior. Some of it was immediate, whereas other consequences were to be felt in the following decades or they even went beyond the interwar period, up to the second half of the 20th century. Birth rate had the most dramatic evolutions, but mortality rate also reflected the socio-economic and the political-military circumstances. Marriage and the couple’s morality were visibly influenced by the war state; people reacted in a complex manner when faced with the new framework of their daily life. The increased mobility of the population, especially of those drafted during those years, contributed to the “contamination” of large segments of the population with practices, attitudes, and feelings that would have hardly been noticeable in normal conditions of peace and traditional mentality background.

Good and Bad Moeurs in Romanian Society from Yesterday and Today

Bonnes et mauvaises mœurs dans la société roumaine d’hier et d’aujourd’hui

Author(s): Dana Maria Rus / Language(s): French / Issue: 1-2/2007

Ionela Băluţă, Constanţa Vintilă – Ghiţulescu (eds.), Bonnes et mauvaises moeurs dans la société roumaine d’hier et d’aujourd’hui (Moravuri bune şi rele în societatea românească de ieri şi de azi), Maison d’édition Universul S. A., 2005, 342 filles

Some Comments on the Most Characteristic Features of the Contemporary Migration Movement in Europe

K niektorých charakteristickým rysom súčasných migračných procesov v Európe

Author(s): Ján Liďák / Language(s): Slovak / Issue: 1/2009

Keywords: migration; movements; Europe; migration processes

V súčasnosti naďalej pretrváva trend, že najčastejšie migrujú chudobní a nevzdelaní, čím vznikajú v krajinách Európskej únie takmer neriešiteľné problémy. Migračný pohyb je však jednosmerný a prebiehajúci v smere z chudobného Juhu na bohatý Západ. S. Huntington hovorí o možnej globálnej migračnej kríze.2 Medzi vedcami, politikmi a ekonómami sa vyslovuje obava z možného nového sťahovania národov a z toho plynúcich obrovských politických, sociálnych a ekonomických zmien na mape súčasného sveta. Tieto zmeny svojou dynamikou formujú už dlhšiu dobu veľmi zložitý komplex problémov, ktoré sa v súčasnej dobe stávajú z hľadiska naliehavosti riešenia prioritami pre jednotlivých aktérov svetového politického systému. Vo svojich dôsledkoch môžeme hovoriť o hrozbe pre stabilitu a bezpečnosť celého svetového politického systému a o veľmi vážnom probléme najmä pre Európu, presnejšie pre Európsku úniu. Dnes sa v Európskej únii s plnou vážnosťou hovorí o medzinárodnej migrácii ako o politickom a bezpečnostnom riziku. Medzinárodná migrácia sa stáva civilizačnou výzvou 21. storočia.