In this article, we deal with the problem of potential stigmatization and social exclusion of people that have voice/speech problems due to neck cancer, especially those who have lost their voice because of total laryngectomy, and we analyze how this potential stigmatization could be alleviated by personalized speech synthesis. We used a mixed-method approach, consisting of quality of life questionnaires and in-depth semi-structured interviews, in order to provide more generalizable as well as rich information. We found out that people with speech problems feel depressed because of their health status and anxiety during social interactions, as they think that other people perceive them as abnormal, or they directly experience symbolic violence. For overcoming these negative feelings, the crucial factors are family relationships and maintaining employment. In both factors, speech synthesis can help significantly. Implications for rehabilitation Personalized speech synthesis can help considerably to people with severe voice impairment in their (re)integration into society. Where possible and appropriate, personalized speech synthesis should be offered as an option to "traditional" voice substitutions.

This article focuses on welfare surveillance as a sociological sub-discipline and a specifi c issue that has emerged in the past two decades in relation to the neoliberal revolution and the transformation of social systems in the West. The paper has three main goals: (1) a theoretical conceptualisation of welfare surveillance based on an analysis of existing empirical research; (2) an analysis of socio-practical manifestations and impacts of welfare surveillance; and (3) a contextualisation of the implementation of welfare surveillance within the Czech social milieu during recent social reforms. Within the scope of the fi rst two goals, the author shows that welfare surveillance is theoretically construed along the lines of a specifi c combination of social justice and neoliberal governmentality, and that welfare surveillance enables the application of specifi c illiberal practices to welfare applicants and recipients in order to effectively discipline and normalise them, which results in the stigmatisation and criminalisation of recipients. Given that there is relatively little research on surveillance in the Czech Republic, the article opens with an introduction to the issue of surveillance.

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This article discusses the prisonisation effect and the consequent responsibilisation of persons in and released from prison in the Czech Republic. Drawing on data from several research projects focused on the social circumstances of persons released from prison, the employability of imprisoned persons, and penitentiary and post-penitentiary care (94 semi-structured interviews and four focus groups conducted with people released from prison, and with social workers, prison staff, and other experts in the field), it is argued in the article that the high levels of recidivism and the overall marginal position of people after they are released from prison in the Czech Republic are the result of the prisonisation effect, which is strongly reproduced in prisons and is not alleviated after a person is released back into society. Thus, people released from prison are not used to making independent decisions and exercising initiative, and ultimately they fail to cope with the post-release social and institutional demands, whereby they end up being marginalised and/or returning to prison.

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