Hardi Tamás - Tóth Károly (szerk.): Határaink mentén. A szlovák-magyar határtérség társadalmi-gazdasági vizsgálata (2008) (Somorja, 2009)
Esettanulmányok
Summary 217 higher also in this case on the Slovak side. The biggest share of the inhabitants has family relations on the other side of the border, which is natural, coming from the historical past of the border region. The second most frequent type of relationship is acquaintances, followed by friendships. Colleagues and business partners make a negligible part (2 to 4%) of the personal interactions in both countries. The proportions and their differences are very informative: more than one-third of the inhabitants on the Slovak side have relatives, 28% have acquaintances and 25% have friends in Hungary; the same relationships of the Hungarian respondents were only 13%, 11% and 9%, respectively (Figure 3). Based on Mark Granovetter (1988) we can differentiate between strong ties (relatives or friends) and weak ties (acquaintances, colleagues or business partners), which have different values and functions at the level of the individual and the whole social structure. Also in this approach the frequency of strong ties is higher on the Slovak side (Table 1). The proportion of multi-layer, multiplex relationship networks is much lower. Both strong ties (i.e. friends and relatives) were mentioned by 32 Hungarian respondents, only (3.2% of the sample), whereas there were 158 such respondents (16%) on the Slovak side. As regards the three weaker ties - acquaintances, colleagues and business partners -, involving less emotional elements and intensity, only 10 Hungarian and 47 Slovak respondents mentioned such ties, which mean very low proportions: 1% and 5%, respectively. Of course the borders and the historical vicissitudes annihilated many relations or did not allow the birth of such ties (Figure 4). The inhabitants living in Slovakia have more complex relationship systems in Hungary (Figure 5). The majority has only one type of relationship, of course, and as we have formerly seen, these are usually family ties or less intensive acquaintanceships. Of all Hungarian respondents having any sort of ties, 70% have only one kind of relationship. In the Slovak sample the proportion of such respondents is Figure 3. Probable frequency of the relationships and the types of relationships (%) 53,10 i Slovakian sample 35,40 I 12,70 28,20 10,80 ; Hungarian sample 24,90 I8,70 4,20 2,20 Do you have any Do you have Do you have Do you have Do you have relationship? relatives? friends? acquaintances? colleagues? 2,80 120 Do you have business partners? Source: Questionnaire survey of inhabitants (2008).
