Publication details
Sociální sítě a možnosti politické participace. Zastupitelé, občané a šachty ve Stonavě na Těšínsku
| Title in English | Social networks and limits of political participation: Local authorities, citizens and coal mines in Stonava, Teschen Silesia |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Biograf |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.biograf.org/clanky/members/clanek.php?clanek=v4201 |
| Field | Archaeology, anthropology, ethnology |
| Keywords | social networks; weak ties; political culture; civil participation; Teschen Silesia |
| Description | This paper follows the negotiations of residents of the village of Stonava with neighbouring mines regarding the limits of coal mining within village limits. The author illustrates the influence of social networks on the character of the political practice of the local council and how such networks allow or foreclose the possibility of negotiating limits on mining. Stonava is divided between established residents and newcomers. The political praxis of local representatives - who are not only members of various political parties but also members of various local associations - to a large extent influences the possibility of participation in civic life by the newcomers. Through the lens of Stonava s political life, the limits of Mark Granovetter s concept of the strength of weak ties become clear: the weak relations personified by the newcomers can be strong enough to mediate innovative information but not strong enough to impel action on the part of local representatives. Thus political participation by village residents is not merely limited by the monopoly status of the mining industry in providing employment, but also by local political culture and the associational forms that support it. |