The thesis called Academic Spectacle: Commodification of Knowledge in Pnin, The Breast, and White Noise deals with the commodifying influence of the consumer society on education, knowledge and the perception of information, as it is reflected in the following American academic novels: Pnin (1957) by Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth's The Breast (1972) and White Noise (1985) by Don DeLillo. The thesis combines the approach of literary analysis with the use of cultural- theoretical terms and theories relating to the state of postmodern society from the texts of Waltr Benjamin, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord, Linda Hutcheon or Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer. In addition, it elaborates on sociological concepts, such as "the risk society" of Ulrich Beck, the "public arenas model" of approaching social problems of Stephen Hilgratner and Charles Bosk or "the hyperconsumer society", the term Gilles Lipovetsky applies to the state of present societies. Therefore, the thesis belongs to the area of cultural studies, which typically combine the approaches of sociology and literary studies. For the sake of analyzing the influence of the consumer society on the academic environment (as it is reflected in the given novels), we established four basic aspects of commodification: reification, banalization,...

Aims: to explore if the consumption of pornography have influence on a relationship, if the consumption of pornography have a negative impact on a first intercourse and on a initial masturbation behavior, to find out if it is a difference between younger and older women in the frequency of pornography consumption, explore if religiosity have some impact on frequency of pornography consumption and one of the aims is to disrupt the myth about primary pornography consumption by men. Method: the representative data vere collected from 413 Slovak women, the data were based on a quota sampling by agency 2muse according to three categories (age, education and address), the sample age was from 18 to 77 years old and average age was 40 years old (SD±14,62). Results: average age of first pornography consumption is 20,01 years old (SD±7,56), the most interesting age of pornography consumption is 23,44 (SD±9,12). The frequency of pornography consummation is couple of times per year for 107 (25,9%) respondents and most often is watching less than 5 minutes per day. Religiosity has a protective factor of frequency of pornography consumption depending of strengths of religious beliefs and the frequency of implementation of religious requirements. Pornography is not an accelerating factor an initial masturbating...

The primary focus of this thesis is the New York fiction by the prolific American writer Edith Wharton. The particular works discussed in this thesis are The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, and The Age of Innocence, completed by the collection of four novellas, Old New York, and also a selection of Wharton's short stories set in the city of New York. The main argument of the thesis could be encapsulated to say that Wharton's fiction lacks the individuality of the characters, and the main focus of the texts is on society and how society affects the archetypes of the characters created solely for the purposes of this thesis. It is divided into three intersecting chapters, the first topical chapter concentrating on New York as such and how the Gilded Age influenced the Big Apple. Moreover, Wharton and her own relationship with the city is discussed in this chapter as well, pointing at the fact that she was intimately familiar with the custom and the manners of the upper society of New York, which she later implemented in her fiction. Also, the description of naturalism and determinism are provided as those seem to be the genres most utilized by the author. The next chapter revolves around the notion of archetypes as Claude Lévi-Strauss introduced in his "The Structural Study of Myth," which...

Diploma thesis deal with incorporated of ethic dimensions into acitivities in leisure time of children and youth. The first chapter targets delimination of the basic notions from the area of leisure time and ethics. The next chapter deal with value orientation children and youth. The third chapter attend to ethic dimension acitivities in leisure time first in the continuity with experience and ethic education in leisure time. The last chapter deal with owing to medial activities to children and youth, consumption orientation, synthesis influence of educational aspects and synthesis ethic values and their signification for individuality development children and youth.

This master´s thesis deals with a problematic of situation on the czech market with consumer´s goods. Especially position of the czech retail chain called Konzum Ústí nad Orlicí, which belong to Association of czech and moravian retail chains. In the thesis I analyse present situation on the czech market with the goods and occupy with future trends. Its consider on the business policy of Konzum, their success and effect. I concentrate myself on the results, which are realized by research made by copany Incoma, to improve the situation and position of the Konzum and Association of czech and moravian retail chains in the keen competition on the czech market because of the foreign retail chains.

This thesis deals with the current egoistic nature of man. The first part of the paper will describe the historical background and the rise of empirical science and will point out the newly emerging cultural paradigm which has influenced the whole value system and general development of today's society. This will be followed up by the description of an individual phenomena that guides the acceptance of social principles actively pursued within our society these days. Parsing of individual factors using the method of analysis and synthesis will allow us to approach the very phenomenon of egoism from a wider perspective. The focus of this paper is to attempt to answer whether man's dependency on today's society leads to the development of egoistic characteristic in a person. The paper will also attempt, using philosophical and theological reflection and modern science, to find an outline for a solution that would be beneficial to the advancement of an altruistic profile of civilization. Keywords Jesus, Plato, Sokrates, the good, egoism, emphaty, philosophy, genetics, intelligence, values, conformity, consumer society, power, science

The aim of this thesis is to define the growing use of health symbolism in the consumer goods industry. Powerful group of consumers, focused on the value of health and an active lifestyle, is the base for developing a long-term emerging market with portfolio of brands and products, which are building its image on the basis of health connotations. This "medicalization of consumption" takes place mainly at the level of signs with relevant references, according to which consumers are oriented at different levels of awareness of that fact. On the example of semiotic analysis of Activia brand we would point out how could each sign build a product, permanently associated with required values.

The diploma thesis deals with topic of production, enterprise and consumption of "Olomoucké tvarůžky" (Olomouc cottage cheese) in a 1938-1960 period on the ground of bohemian lands, or Czechoslovakia respectively. It summarizes development of this branch up to the year 1938 and observes how it was affected by the consequences of the Munich Treaty. The thesis puts closer look at the types of state interventions in production of Olomouc cottage cheese in war and postwar time. It also observes process of socialization and subsequent nationalization of private businesses in 1950s. Then it focuses on major aspects of business in this branch and brings more detailed study of three typical entrepreneurs according to the scale of their involvement. The thesis furthermore characterizes production of Olomouc cottage cheese as an individual branch of dairy industry. It surveys number, form, regional dislocation and machinery of businesses. Then it considers amount of production of Olomouc cottage cheese, its relation to total cheese production, to type of plant and region. It deals with number, structure and position of employees in Olomouc cottage cheese businesses. It also concerns export of Olomouc cottage cheese. Last chapter inquires position of Olomouc cottage cheese in consumption habits of population...

The thesis seeks to compare the role of pop art and popular culture in art in Great Britain and Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s of the 20th Century. We shall focus on the relationship of popular culture and art in both countries with regards to their different social and political backgrounds. In the beginning of the thesis we shall delimit some of the theoretical concepts such as popular culture or popular art. We shall also try to define the concept of art itself. The thesis will not omit to characterize the basic features of British and American pop art. The work will introduce quintessential representatives (individuals as well as groups) of pop art from the British and Czechoslovakian art scene of the selected time period. On those particular examples, we shall look for identical attributes or differences in their art works which should be conditioned by the specific cultural and social settings of the society. We should also take into consideration some of the art techniques or technologies used within pop art and also at least in general the relations to popular music, architecture and literature.

The thesis analyzes and compares the approaches of two authors dealing with phenomena in contemporary society. It focuses mainly on issues of lifestyle and values. The thesis asks questions related to socialization and individualization of society. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part is about definition of the basic terms (postmodernism, lifestyle, values). The second part is devoted to the concept of Gilles Lipovetsky. The third part focuses on the concept of Michel Maffesoli. In the fourth section, there is a comparison of these two concepts, where we are primarily focused on tracing argumentation clashes and controversies. In the final part, there is the presentation of the main questions and ideas, that come out on the basis of this comparison.