Papers by Megyesi Boldizsár
Environmental Policy and Governance, 2012
Recent social scientific research has often dealt with public perceptions of climate change as an... more Recent social scientific research has often dealt with public perceptions of climate change as an isolated topic. In contrast, we explored through qualitative interviews (n = 202) across five European countries how members of the public conceptualized climate change within a wider context of energy and the future, drawing on social representation theory.
This study aims at uncovering how social capital at micro and macro levels contributes to the suc... more This study aims at uncovering how social capital at micro and macro levels contributes to the success of farmers’ co-operation and how imbalances between the different forms of social capital can hamper collective action among farmers. Using a case-study approach, we analyse two collective farmers marketing initiatives from Austria and Hungary, which have emerged in very diverse political and social environments and followed different development paths. Differences in the performance of these organizations can be partly traced back to variations in the contextual environment. However, the empirical data suggest that social capital plays an important role as well, since it is crucial for mobilizing the initial set of different forms of other capitals like natural, physical, financial and human capitals. The aim of this article is to understand the dynamics and impacts of different configurations of social capital and its contribution to the economic success of collective initiatives....
Kutatásomban a társadalmi tőke többrétegű jellegére alapozva két magyarországi kistérségben eleme... more Kutatásomban a társadalmi tőke többrétegű jellegére alapozva két magyarországi kistérségben elemeztem a hazai fejlesztéspolitika hatásait esettanulmányokon alapuló módszerekkel. A kutatás során a helyi fejlesztéseket egy, a társadalmi tőke többrétegű jellegén alapuló elemzési keret segítsé-
Recent social scientific research has often dealt with public perceptions of climate change as an... more Recent social scientific research has often dealt with public perceptions of climate change as an isolated topic. In contrast, we explored through qualitative interviews (n = 202) across five European countries how members of the public conceptualized climate change within a wider context of energy and the future, drawing on social representation theory.
Our analysis suggests that, rather than separating between environmental issues, participants interpreted both climate change and energy consumption in a context of unsustainable resource use. Views on climate change were often very sceptical, but the unsustainability of contemporary resource use was almost unanimously of great concern. However, despite their strong plea for political change towards sustainability, many interviewees found it challenging to translate their views into behaviour. We argue that obstacles for behavioural change might lie in the tensions between cognitive, normative and affective aspects of people's representations, and conclude with recommendations for European climate change mitigation policies.
Temporary organisations have become more and more important in Hungary, as in other countries, ov... more Temporary organisations have become more and more important in Hungary, as in other countries, over the last decade. To access new development sources,the flexibility and adaptive capacity of an organisation have become more important than they had been previously. Following the changes in regional and territorial development, local institutions have changed as well. Scholars of, and studies on, temporary organisations argue that the new forms challenge democratic accountability and result in the exclusion of locals from development processes.
This study aims to present networks within local communities and institutions of territorial development in two Hungarian micro-regions. Similarly to other European countries, the role of the different development institutions has changed in recent decades (Nemes 2000, Csite 2005, Sjöblom 2006, Murdoch 2006, Marsden 2006), as a result of social, economic changes and EU accession. Traditionally most of the development policy regulations were created at the national level. These policy-regulations were delegated to the supra-national level on the one hand, while, on the other hand,management and planning activity was delegated to the local level. These changes were a result of different processes: regionalisation of government in Europe influenced by EU integration processes (Keating 1998, Dreier 1994, Larsson et al 1999). Several other factors also influenced it: the reduction of community sources, growing quality expectations of locals, and the continuous emergence of new tasks to be performed. These phenomena encourage the decision-makers to introduce the elements of market economy into public services: some of them are privatized; others are co-financed by stakeholders in the private economy. The dense structure of different coalitions and networks are also a result of the above-described changes (Buller 2000, Marsden 2006).
The study analyses the effect of social capital on the development activity of local communities. The first part presents some theoretical background on project proliferation and temporary organisations, as well as on the multi-layered character of social capital (Woolcock 1998, Gittell-Vidal 1998). Using this background, the paper presents a typology based on the amounts of different forms of social capital. This is followed by the presentation of two local communities; the analysis of the actors, institutions and their relationship and the comparison of the two cases can help to better understand the role of different forms of social capital in the communities and their effects on development projects. Finally, conclusions are drawn.
This study aims at uncovering how social capital at micro and macro levels contributes to the suc... more This study aims at uncovering how social capital at micro and macro levels contributes to the success of farmers' co-operation and how imbalances between the different forms of social capital can hamper collective action among farmers. Using a case-study approach, we analyse two collective farmers marketing initiatives from Austria and Hungary, which have emerged in very diverse political and social environments and followed different development paths. Differences in the performance of these organizations can be partly traced back to variations in the contextual environment. However, the empirical data suggest that social capital plays an important role as well, since it is crucial for mobilizing the initial set of different forms of other capitals like natural, physical, financial and human capitals. The aim of this article is to understand the dynamics and impacts of different configurations of social capital and its contribution to the economic success of collective initiatives. Based on the empirical findings collective farmers marketing initiatives can deduct ways to consciously appraise and invest in social capital.
Sociologia Ruralis, 2008
Sustainability, knowledge forms and rural development are the core concepts combined in this stud... more Sustainability, knowledge forms and rural development are the core concepts combined in this study to explore how different forms of knowledge manifest themselves in rural development and how their dynamics can contribute to rural sustainability. Based on a qualitative research process, we compare two individual livelihood strategies from rural Hungary, the case of a family farmer and a potter. We argue that scientific, local and managerial knowledge forms cannot be identified in pure forms in Hungarian rural initiatives. In the absence of a strong networking capacity, rural entrepreneurs replace knowledge-sharing and community-learning processes with individual knowledge-gathering strategies. As a consequence, person-bound, multifaceted knowledge sets are used in rural initiatives and are produced according to context; however, the absence of knowledge dynamics hinders actors in developing sustainable solutions. Thus, rural development policy should encourage interaction among different rural actors instead of aiming at providing better education for managerial knowledge.
In present paper case studies from the LIA situated in the Great Plain shall be presented. Two ch... more In present paper case studies from the LIA situated in the Great Plain shall be presented. Two characteristic regions have to be mentioned: Hortobágy and Mezőtúr. The latter one is famous for its agriculture and pottery, tourism has a minor role in its economy. Hortobágy is one of the most well-known regions of Hungary: nature preservation is very important here, both agriculture and tourism are based on it. Food industry plays an important role in both case study areas. We lay emphasis on expounding the characteristics of the Hungarian food industry and agriculture. Our aim is to present the processes that led to the differences between the studied regions and argue that due to the difficult financial situation of the inhabitants and the presence of multinational companies the short food supply chains are weak in the LIA. We focus on the Mezőtúr part of the LIA, because it is a typical region of the Great Plain, as well as Hungary, while the scarcely inhabited Hortobágy has a special role, not only as a nature preservation and tourist area in the Hungarian countryside, but as a unique part of national
Global Environmental Change-human and Policy Dimensions, 2011
szociológus, tudományos segédmunkatárs az MTA Politikai Tudományok Intézetében) Kovách Imre (szoc... more szociológus, tudományos segédmunkatárs az MTA Politikai Tudományok Intézetében) Kovách Imre (szociológus, tudományos igazgatóhelyettes az MTA Politikai Tudományok Intézetében) Megyesi Boldizsár (szociológus, tudományos segédmunkatárs az MTA Politikai Tudományok Intézetében)
Books by Megyesi Boldizsár
With the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000, the European Union set the strategic goal of beco... more With the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000, the European Union set the strategic goal of becoming “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” (European Par- liament 2000). The vision of knowledge-society signalled an important shift in European policy mak- ing, one that acknowledged the immaterial grounds of growth and development (such as education and innovation) as being of outmost significance in the context of the new, global economic order (Moniz 2011), variously characterised as post-Fordist, post-industrial, late-capitalist or information economy. The book is divided into two larger sections, but overall it comprises nine chapters. The first sec- tion consists of three chapters laying the theoretical, conceptual and methodological foundations of the analysis and, at the same time, putting the empirical results to be presented in the second section into the specific Hungarian context. The first chapter is a general introduction and a short description of the last three Researchers’ Nights Hungary. It is followed by the second chapter dedi- cated to the presentation of the two main paradigms that discuss the relation between science and society, and the policy responses formulated to the gap existing between them. The first section is closed by a description of the Hungarian situation of sciences: the statistical analysis of the material and human resources allocated to scientific research is followed by the summary of previous studies that addressed the issue of public perception of research. The latter gives the opportunity to draw the methodological conclusions that were taken into account and built into the Researchers’ Night 2010–2012 data collections.
Journal papers by Megyesi Boldizsár
This article presents the results of an international comparative study on food self-provisioning... more This article presents the results of an international comparative study on food self-provisioning, an activity still widespread in the countries of the Global North. We collected the data in a sociological survey done in 2010 as a part of the household energy use research project GILDED. We selected a region with urban and rural areas as a case study in each of the five EU countries, including Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Our article raises two main research questions: (1) What is the level of food self-provisioning in the regions? (2) Who participates in it? Additionally, we inquired into the motivations of self-provisioners using the results of analyses of sociodemographic and food consumption habits for their interpretation. We found that the level of self-provisioning varies considerably among the regions. Its share ranges from 13 percent in Dutch urban areas to 58 percent in German rural areas. The effects of some sociodemographic and geographic factors differ significantly among the countries. However, we can summarize that living in one's own property, living in a house or in a rural area, having a partner or children, being retired, or having a low income increases the probability of food self-provisioning.
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Papers by Megyesi Boldizsár
Our analysis suggests that, rather than separating between environmental issues, participants interpreted both climate change and energy consumption in a context of unsustainable resource use. Views on climate change were often very sceptical, but the unsustainability of contemporary resource use was almost unanimously of great concern. However, despite their strong plea for political change towards sustainability, many interviewees found it challenging to translate their views into behaviour. We argue that obstacles for behavioural change might lie in the tensions between cognitive, normative and affective aspects of people's representations, and conclude with recommendations for European climate change mitigation policies.
This study aims to present networks within local communities and institutions of territorial development in two Hungarian micro-regions. Similarly to other European countries, the role of the different development institutions has changed in recent decades (Nemes 2000, Csite 2005, Sjöblom 2006, Murdoch 2006, Marsden 2006), as a result of social, economic changes and EU accession. Traditionally most of the development policy regulations were created at the national level. These policy-regulations were delegated to the supra-national level on the one hand, while, on the other hand,management and planning activity was delegated to the local level. These changes were a result of different processes: regionalisation of government in Europe influenced by EU integration processes (Keating 1998, Dreier 1994, Larsson et al 1999). Several other factors also influenced it: the reduction of community sources, growing quality expectations of locals, and the continuous emergence of new tasks to be performed. These phenomena encourage the decision-makers to introduce the elements of market economy into public services: some of them are privatized; others are co-financed by stakeholders in the private economy. The dense structure of different coalitions and networks are also a result of the above-described changes (Buller 2000, Marsden 2006).
The study analyses the effect of social capital on the development activity of local communities. The first part presents some theoretical background on project proliferation and temporary organisations, as well as on the multi-layered character of social capital (Woolcock 1998, Gittell-Vidal 1998). Using this background, the paper presents a typology based on the amounts of different forms of social capital. This is followed by the presentation of two local communities; the analysis of the actors, institutions and their relationship and the comparison of the two cases can help to better understand the role of different forms of social capital in the communities and their effects on development projects. Finally, conclusions are drawn.
Books by Megyesi Boldizsár
Journal papers by Megyesi Boldizsár
Our analysis suggests that, rather than separating between environmental issues, participants interpreted both climate change and energy consumption in a context of unsustainable resource use. Views on climate change were often very sceptical, but the unsustainability of contemporary resource use was almost unanimously of great concern. However, despite their strong plea for political change towards sustainability, many interviewees found it challenging to translate their views into behaviour. We argue that obstacles for behavioural change might lie in the tensions between cognitive, normative and affective aspects of people's representations, and conclude with recommendations for European climate change mitigation policies.
This study aims to present networks within local communities and institutions of territorial development in two Hungarian micro-regions. Similarly to other European countries, the role of the different development institutions has changed in recent decades (Nemes 2000, Csite 2005, Sjöblom 2006, Murdoch 2006, Marsden 2006), as a result of social, economic changes and EU accession. Traditionally most of the development policy regulations were created at the national level. These policy-regulations were delegated to the supra-national level on the one hand, while, on the other hand,management and planning activity was delegated to the local level. These changes were a result of different processes: regionalisation of government in Europe influenced by EU integration processes (Keating 1998, Dreier 1994, Larsson et al 1999). Several other factors also influenced it: the reduction of community sources, growing quality expectations of locals, and the continuous emergence of new tasks to be performed. These phenomena encourage the decision-makers to introduce the elements of market economy into public services: some of them are privatized; others are co-financed by stakeholders in the private economy. The dense structure of different coalitions and networks are also a result of the above-described changes (Buller 2000, Marsden 2006).
The study analyses the effect of social capital on the development activity of local communities. The first part presents some theoretical background on project proliferation and temporary organisations, as well as on the multi-layered character of social capital (Woolcock 1998, Gittell-Vidal 1998). Using this background, the paper presents a typology based on the amounts of different forms of social capital. This is followed by the presentation of two local communities; the analysis of the actors, institutions and their relationship and the comparison of the two cases can help to better understand the role of different forms of social capital in the communities and their effects on development projects. Finally, conclusions are drawn.