Richard Rorty postulates that we relinquish relying on the “Platonic” idea of something common to us all, something uniting us with others, and cease the search for both universal justifications and truths. Rorty fears, and backs his fears with examples from history, that referring to something uniting us may serve those who shall state that there is some right, true model of living, of collective cooperation, and that only one form of social and political organization is right for us. Because if there is a truth about human beings, about relations with others, then in accordance with the traditional way of thinking, we should act on it, and any opposing action, freethinking, should not take place. Each and every human being should act according to fixed – uncovered – standards, and those who disobey should be directed onto the right path. In short, one of Rorty’s firm beliefs is that the idea of human being, of truth, particular perspectives determine our choices – perhaps this is how Rorty’s intuition may be expressed within one sentence. But is such an opinion justified? In the hereby article I shall say it is not; whether we are universalists or constructivists, our choices may be of the same kind. At the same time, having the same metaphysical or constructivist beliefs, we may arrive at quite different choices.

Euroorphanhood concerns of older people whose children are staying abroad for a long time (in the project at least 12 months). Traditional network of support in Polish society is based on familiocentrism. According to this theory, the younger generations have obligations to the oldest members of their families which arising from the bonds of blood. Phenomenon of interest to us is its existential dimension (quality of life) and essential (quality of life). It is equally important, the objective (defined state of affairs) and subjective (personal sense of quality of life) approach. Euroorphanhood is a development phenomenon, because of a large spatial mobility of the younger generation on the one hand and quickly extending of the human life cycle. In this approach euroorphanhood will be subjected to empirical testing – it will be a comparative study in three countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Poland.

The article concerns Thomas Mann’s view on culture and on anthropology. The analyses of the works by the German writer point at the relations between his conception and Fridrich Schiller’s conception of man as a sensuous and sprititual being. Mann’s works, such as Death in Venice or The Magic Mountain are the literary equivalent of the unfinished essay on aesthetics On Spirit and Art. The author stresses the important role of eroticism in the description of culture. Eroticism should be conceived in a wide sense, not only in relation to bodily desire, but as a basis of aesthetic experience. Seen from this angle, Mann’s writings contain a series of reflections about culture and about man, reflections rooted in the modern conceptions presented by Kant and Schiller and later developed by contemporary psychoanalysis and the philosophy of existence.

This article presents an educational internet forum, which was a part of the blended learning project the author led throughout the academic year 2011/2012 parallel to the course Introduction to the Cultural Studies at the University of Gdansk. As a result of the project the site http://wiedzaokulturze.wikispaces.com was created by a group of sixty-five Cultural Studies students. Students’ task was to take part in two discussions each semester by sharing their opinion on the topic the teacher proposed. In total they left 260 comments on 20 discussion forums. Each discussion forum was closed two days before the next class, so it prepared for the subsequent discussion. The aim of this article is to demonstrate whether participation in online discussion develops the competence necessary to lead a face to face discussion, the key ability that should be improved by humanistic education. Year-round care of the project helped to make many observations that can be used as a guide for teachers who plan to moderate the educational forum. This paper presents examples of discussion topics, analyzes students’ comments and proposes methods for moderating internet discussion. The experience gained during the project leads to the conclusion that, although the Internet educational forum solves some of the problems of traditional discussion, it generates another ones. The most serious of them result from the separation of time and space and lack of natural interaction. As explained by research results and statistics collected after closing the project, the online discussion is more cool, intellectual and less spontaneous. Because of this fact the educational forum threads should be planned as a preparation for written assignment.

With the passage of time William Shakespeare’s dramatic works became a great inspiration to artists from the area of popular culture. The bard’s masterpieces are often used by filmmakers, including those who create animated movies. The Shakespearian motifs can appear in animated movies in many different ways: starting from accurate adaptations, through movies just slightly inspired by the plot of the dramatic works, ending up with films that refer only to particular characters or popular scenes from the plays. The elements of Shakespearian works may serve as an inspiration for completely new stories, they may also act as an insignificant quirkiness or as a sign of intellectual curiosity. This article’s aim is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the animated adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, indicated for young viewers. On the one hand the techniques used by animators give a chance to find new visual expression of the bard’s plays and let us watch well-known, classic stories in a modern context. On the other hand – what is confirmed by the survey presented in this article – casual approach to Shakespeare’s works, instead of bridging the gaps between the dramatist and young participants in media and culture, may increase the distance between them.

One of the basic conditions of human life (and the ways of experiencing it) is that it is temporal and the our lifetime is limited. Today we observe fast technological changes, access to a lot of information and frequent necessity to execute tasks quickly, which is why many people experience limits of time necessary to perform their action. Conscious of their own mortality, people also experience the limits of their own lifetime. In this context, the question, what would it mean for a given individual “to make proper use of time” seems to be quite important. Research was conducted on a group of 127 students. The objective of the research was to obtain answers to exploratory questions: What are the individual concepts of that, what does “proper time use” mean for students (both in short-term perspective and lifetime perspective). In order to discover the individual concepts of “proper time use”, a questionnaire containing open questions was constructed. Th e questions were connected with three time use perspectives: a week of study, a week of holidays and the whole life. It corresponds with the division made by Popiołek (2010) into two perspectives, in which time is captured by the man: every day time and lifetime. Answers were categorized. The most frequent criteria of “proper time use” were: attaining objectives (74%), pleasure and seeking sensations (61%), relations with other people (49%), personal development (34%) and life satisfaction (30%). Definite majority of the answers were general and pointed to a lack of deeper reflection on their lives, on “how I would like to make use of my lifetime”. The results obtained may have application value – based on them, initial postulates were proposed for work on increasing self-consciousness of students in the respect of time management.

The aim of this study was to determine the functioning of mothers in terms of communication and styles of education, including family structure, gender and age of the adolescent. Hypotheses were based on the assumption that if a mother is the most important person in the family, then there will be no differences between single mother and the mother from complete family in the assessment of communication and styles of education in adolescents’s opinion. It was assumed that the assessment of the quality of the relationship will be affected by gender and age of adolescents. There were studied 148 adolescents with complete families and 237 who raised by single mothers, using a Parent Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) and a Survey of Upbringing Style. Analysis of variance revealed that communication with the mother is satisfying, regardless of family structure, which strongly differentiate the democratic parenting style, and gender-style liberal. There were seen a significant interaction between gender and age of adolescent, conditioning the open communication and interaction with the mother adolescent age and family structure substantially influences on the liberal loving style.

Issues brought up of the role of the victim in the genesis of the offence of the homicide stayed in the article. Crime (including homicide) is an act occurring in the specific social and cultural context. It is a result of special links between the perpetrator and the victim and circumstances which decision-making processes of both subjects called. In the end the perpetrator is taking this process motivated action with desire for achieving the potential purpose which also desire for avoiding the danger can be. However victim carrying out specific activities of the everyday life she created opportunities or delivered to the possibility for fulfilling the criminal purpose. Largely of studies of crime concerning issues this issue from a perspective of the perpetrator is usually discussed with omitting the participation of the victim. The offence of the homicide is of special importance in this context above all on account of the express occurring report between perpetrator and with victim. Establishing the system of features creating the potential of victims was a purpose of the article. Since victimisation and so has both immanent and contextual character he includes not only individual features but also is connected with a social and cultural sphere. The problem analysis is based on distinguishing of the scope of the „fault” the victim (according to the Mendelsohna typology) in the context of the established motive for the homicide. Research problems adopted in examinations refer to the relational, situational, personality prospect what allowed for the multifaceted problem analysis, establishing essential areas of the victim potential of individual categories of victims. In examinations methods of the interview and searching secondary sources were used. Analysis of research arrangements is focused on indicating features predestining victims to the role (what the team of an immanent traits of the victim potential) and of victim risk factors (comprising the contextual aspect of the victim potential). The arrangements gave the possibility of formulating recommendations for the purposes of the prevention.

The aim of this article is to analyze the efficiency of the three currently working on the Polish side bilateral textbook commissions (Polish-German, Polish-Lithuanian and Polish-Ukrainian). Its added value lies, firstly, in rarely undertaken in the literature comparative research – the author’s ambitions go beyond simple description of several different textbook committees. Secondly, in the formulation of concrete conclusions, which to some extent can be applied in practice. The used research method was studying the documents. Using the technique of critical analysis of the content the author revealed similarities and differences in the functioning of the three institutions in terms of: the history of creation; tasks, procedures and organization of their work; discussed topics and appearing controversies; the effects of undertaken actions. On that basis, she formulated the conviction that a decisive impact on the effectiveness of the mentioned institutions have the following factors: ambitions and chosen by commissions course of action, the framework of states’ educational policies, the political support of the governments, wide debate on commissions’ findings, attitudes of the societies on the both sides of the border and objective factors like: time, stage of nation-building process and partners’ financial capacities.

The purpose of this article is to examine the role and importance of music in society. In particular, attention is paid on the educational value of art sound and musical skills of Poles and their participation in the musical culture. The main question is the question of the quality of these skills and socialization processes of individuals to music. The aim of the paper is also to discuss the institutional problems and obstacles of music education as well as to focus on the problem of the reproduction of the non-sensitive to music generations. The text is composed of four main parts. In the first of them there are discussed the general issues related to the role of music in society, including the process of acquiring musical skills and aesthetic dispositions (in the sense of Pierre Bourdieu), allowing individuals to take an active part in the musical life of the community. The focal point of the discussion also concentrates on such topics, as integration and communication power of music in society within the meaning of Alfred Schütz. The second part of the text contains the reflections on the educational role of music, including its ability to connect people, and shaping them socially desirable traits. The third part of the article refers to the issue of the musical competences of Poles, based on available quantitative data. The latter are useful to discuss the problem of intergenerational inheritance of weak music competences, and therefore the phenomenon of the reproduction of musical “illiteracy”. The fourth section provides some reflection on the specific consequences of music education system in Poland. In particular, the attention is paid to the issues such as the low level of participation in musical culture, and the regression of listening in the sense of Theodor W. Adorno.

The article contains the overview of research on the beliefs of pre-school and primary school teachers (n = 100) about developing the plurilingual competence in children. Research shows that the teachers highly appreciate the scientific, practical and motivational values of developing the plurilingual competence, but they lack knowledge about the teaching methods and tools and organizational forms that can be used for the development of plurilingual competence in the early stages of education. When discussing the results I analyze i.a. (a) the reasons for not taking actions aimed at the development of individual plurilingualism indicated by the respondents and (b) the actions taken declaratory by the respondents in the context of the objectives of plurilingual education.

The article presents the reality of Palestinian pupils living in Israel. In the first part of the article I present geo-political situation of that area. I also show how educational system is influenced by military conflict situation. I indicate the areas of exclusion and system strategies of non-equal treating Palestinian minority, however I also show some positive signs of exclusion patterns’ transgression (in multicultural schools with special programs). The most important issues connected with Palestinian students education are presented according to area of linguistic subjects and the strategies of cultural disinheritance.

The category of nostalgia is the element of artistic message frequently used in popular music, which influences the reception of a particular song. In their activity musicians refer to the musical past by employing cultural references and utilise fashions present in a certain environment for their own benefit. This category is present in lyrics and music, in the stage shows (performing live, festivals, TV shows) and promotional activities (interviews, promotional video clips for the songs). Such referring to tradition became a constant element of artistic communication, anchoring the music in the past and taking into account the cultural specificities. Definitional capturing of nostalgia is not entirely possible: research into this category require approaches which take into account the aspects of context important for decoding the cultural content. Interpretive tools used by semiology or cultural studies allow to depict the elements included in the form and content of music and lyrics. They indicate the presence of nostalgia as a category determining the reception of artistic work.

Positive psychology successfully takes the first steps to explain what makes people happy, drawing on the tradition of twentieth-century psychology, as well as evolutionary psychology and neuropsychology. In addition, its statements seem to resonate with the philosophical tradition of Far East, which sources of happiness and well-being sees apart from the ‘self ’, denying the individualistic desires connected to the satisfaction of vain ego that demands – metaphorically speaking – honors and immediate pleasure. However, with its ideas positive psychology perfectly fits into current commercial philosophy of ‘slow movement’, which encourages people to find joy in everyday activities, focus on self-development, derive satisfaction from small pleasures, cultivate their hobbies and social contacts. Because ‘slow movement’ is firmly connected with the specific kind of market, therefore, though positive psychology suggests distancing from the issues of material problems, it becomes – as if in spite of itself – another positioning value, which only determines the status of individuals.

The purpose of this article is to provide a theoretical and empirical explanation of how the consumer socialization works with children of 7/8 years. This paper poses questions about the way brands are discussed in social situations in the environment of school class. It explores children’s socializations into consumer-brand relationships and the influence that marketing texts have on their everyday social experiences. The analysis of children’s talk about brands is critical in order to understand the ways that brands (with parents, siblings and peers) socialize them into consumer culture. The first section presents contemporary discussion of children’s consumption phenomena. The second section emphasis on researching with 14 groups of primary Polish pupils in Lublin. It uses data analysis born of in-depth interviews analysis. This study is based on principles of cultural studies and discourse and functional analysis which approach as a means to enhance richness and uniqueness in the area of children’s consumption. In order to understand children’s brand consumption the paper indicates five main functions emerged from the data: 1. Exploring consumer culture through play and gratification 2. Seeking safety in an overabundance 3. Identification and gender socialization 4. Belonging to a group and rivalry 5. Utilitarian functions. Author argues that consumption ideology and their discourses are not increasingly define children’s everyday social experiences. 7/8-year-olds were not a coherent group significantly interested in brands and consumption, but on the other hand, they were not a group that did not interested in them at all. Counter to the (mainly polish) literature children have not extensive knowledge of brands and brands are not so emerging in their lives.

This article attempts to answer the questions: how hip-hop subculture participants perceive their own environment, how to refer to the stereotypes about themselves and what values they most identify with. Author’s interest in the subject stems from the mnearly 20-year presence in hip-hop in Poland and everyday and abusive relationships often convinced of hip-hop to the areas of social pathology. The study involved 60 people who identify with the subculture of hip-hop teenagers aged 16 – 18 years in the majority of high school students. The research method was a structured interview. The results show an interesting and internally varied image of hip-hop subculture. Interesting may be differences in views on the environment from the perspective of respondents gender. Girls look more critically on their own subculture and often admit that the group use drugs and violence occurs. Respondents represent a complex picture of the world highlighting the significance of musical texts in the description of their reality. Participants evaluate their own subculture rather as a happy people, with life goals related to the plans of other ordinary teenagers. Everyone in hip-hop subculture express aversion to the police and presenting its own internal code of conduct and values. They are reluctant to paint graffiti on monuments, but didn’t bother of destruction the facade of other buildings, and railcars. They have no sense of uniformity required by declaring that hip-hop is not only the dress code, but a lifestyle.

The aim of this paper is to present Japanese comics (manga) and cartoons (anime) with sexual content called hentai. I briefly review some history of Japanese art and culture, in which sexuality has always been a legitimate subject for art and which forms the cultural underpinnings of manga. I summarize the erotic themes and visions of manga with sexual content, including female and male homosexuality (yuri, yaoi), heterosexuality (ecchi, bakunyū/kyonyuu), BDSM (kinbari), transvestitism (futanari), children (lolicon, shotakon). In conclusion, I pose the question of the need to adopt the right perspective to understand the often surprising manifestations of Japanese sexuality.