Kultūra ir visuomenė: socialinių tyrimų žurnalas 2020, nr. 11(1)

This paper aims to analyze divorce motives and how they are linked with individual, partnership level and divorce process factors. Divorce motives are subjective accounts of the causes of divorce. Motives refer to perceptions and are different from structural causes of divorce, which often become the object of sociological inquiry. The paper is based on the analysis of the “Fathering after union dissolution” (2016) dataset, which collected information from men who experienced dissolution of the union with children. Research identified four groups of divorce motives: instrumental, expressive, behavioral and sexual or infidelity. Our main results suggest that divorce motives are associated with personality and education, partnership duration and some characteristics of divorce process. Men with lower individual resources more likely report instrumental divorce motives. Instrumental divorce motives are also positively associated with longer partnership duration. Divorce due to instrumental motives are less likely initiated by men. Expressive motives are positively associated with higher individual resources, are more pronounced in longer duration partnerships and initiated by men. Behavioral problems are more reported by men with lower individual resources, and union dissolutions most likely are initiated by women. Sexual and infidelity motives are positively associated with higher education. Overall, research on divorce motives contributes to the understanding of the structural causes of divorce. Our findings unpack meaning of relational stress, which more affects families of lower socio-economic standing.

The aim of this article is to discuss the bodies of circus artists in circus history. In order to highlight the significance of the circus artist’s body in the circus and its change, the article analyzes studies and literature on the history of the circus, circus definitions and differences between the body’s position in traditional and contemporary circus. Going deeper into the history of the circus, it can be seen that the position of the circus in society has almost always been unstable, and it has been both marginalized and considered as an art of the elite. As the circus is a very bodily form of art, the changing position of the circus in society has also influenced attitudes towards the body of the circus artist. Likewise, the bodies of circus performers were seen as strange, unacceptable, abnormal, or an ideal example to society. The object of the article is the change of the body of the circus artist in the historical development of the circus. The text also analyzes the problems of circus periodization, as it is often difficult for circus specialists to agree on circus periods and their differences. Nevertheless, a clear distinction can be observed between the traditional and the contemporary circus and the bodies in there. The body of the contemporary circus artist is paradoxically distinguished by virtuosity and human vulnerability, their body is constantly in a state of pain, risk, fear, or success and must be ready for change. In the contemporary circus, the bodies of artists are self-reflective; they, unlike in the traditional circus, are close to ambiguity and thus the contemporary circus becomes an opportunity for self-expression and social critique to manifest through the body.

Daugelyje pasaulio šalių vaikų priežiūra yra siejama labiau su moterimis nei su vyrais. Padidėjęs dirbančių moterų motinų skaičius lėmė motinystės ir tėvystės sampratų pokyčius, kuriuose svarbų vaidmenį vaidina valstybių formuojamos ir įgyvendinamos šeimos politikos. Vienas iš ryškesnių pastarųjų pokyčių Lietuvos šeimos politikoje – 2011 m. Lietuvoje įsigaliojęs teisinis reglamentavimas, kuris leido tėvams rinktis iš dviejų vaiko priežiūros atostogų variantų: gausiau apmokamų iki vaikui sueis 1 metai ir mažiau apmokamų, tačiau su galimybe dirbti neprarandant vaiko priežiūros išmokų antraisiais vaiko gyvenimo metais. Ir nors tai atvėrė tėvams daugiau galimybių derinti vaiko priežiūrą ir apmokamą darbą, o vyrų, pasinaudojančių teise į vaiko priežiūros atostogas antraisiais vaiko gyvenimo metais, skaičius reikšmingai didėja, straipsnyje daroma prielaida, kad struktūriniai išmokų gavėjų pokyčiai atsirado ne dėl besikeičiančių vertybinių nuostatų ir plintančių lyčių egalitarizmo praktikų, o dėl atsiradusios galimybės šeimoms pasirinkti finansiškai naudingiausią vaiko priežiūros atostogų scenarijų. Šio straipsnio tyrimo objektas – lyčių egalitarizmas vaiko priežiūros aspektu. Straipsnio tikslas – remiantis antrine Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo valdybos duomenų apie vaiko išmokų gavėjus 2009–2019 m. analize bei vaiko priežiūros atostogas reglamentuojančių teisės aktų analize atskleisti, kaip per pastaruosius 10 metų, keičiantis vaiko priežiūros teisiniam reglamentavimui, kito vaiko priežiūros išmokų gavėjų struktūra. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad nepriklausomai nuo teisinio reglamentavimo pirmenybė teikiama ilgesnėms vaiko priežiūros atostogoms, o struktūriniai išmokų gavėjų pokyčiai pastebimi tik tuomet, kai atsiranda galimybė dirbti neprarandant išmokų: vyrų, gaunančių vaiko priežiūros išmokas, skaičius didėja antraisiais vaiko gyvenimo metais.

Public policies result from argumentative processes in which individuals collectively alter or maintain the rules under which they live in. We seek to understand how documentaries apply different rhetorical strategies to impact public opinion and, thus, generate a favorable environment for the promotion of policies to deal with climate change. Using the rhetorical approach and the Multiple Streams Model as our theoretical framework, we conduct a rhetorical analysis of two movies (“Before the flood” and “How to let go of the world and love the things climate can’t change”). We identify hypotheses about the relationship between the elements of persuasion employed by each movie and their strategies to impact the actors who influence public policy processes for climate change, in particular by contributing to the emergence of a public mood that is perceived by government officials and elevates the topic into the governmental agenda. Our qualitative and exploratory analysis suggests that documentaries simultaneously affect the problem stream (with arguments more centered around ethos and logos), describing the science behind the causes and consequences of climate change with the assistance of visual tools, and the political stream (with arguments more reliant on pathos), instilling a sense of moral responsibility in the audience with emotional arguments rooted, for instance, in ideas of family and war, while devoting less time to the proposal of solutions.

This article compares the media “photo book” and “photo album” with regard to their implications for the user: both can serve similar purposes, among them, memory, identity, and representation, and their contents are often very similar on first sight. However, they carry different messages in relation to nostalgia, time, authority, authenticity, originality, and fixation. Even though the photo book is the newer medium, it seems that it is less suitable to satisfy “postmodern” needs. The photo album, however, appears as more authentic due to its uniqueness and enables a less linear and more open way to re-create the own life story.