Modernisation and Social Transformation in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The specific analysis of the Czech historical experience could offer inter- esting incentives for theoretical generalisations. The global post-Communist societal transformation is conceived in the following paper as a complex social transforma- tion and modernisation in all spheres of human culture. Analogously, in several other European countries which already were relatively advanced before World War II, the influence of the totalitarian/egalitarian state socialist social system on the moderni- sation processes in the Czech lands was in principle negative. So far, the post- Communist transformation of Czech society has been rather successful. However, this was caused, among others, by the abandoning, the postponing, or the mitigation of some aspects of the originally presupposed radical liberal democratic changes. The long-term prospects of Czech society depend mainly on the ability of the social and institutional system to stimulate a significant progress on the road to qualitative modernisation. It will only be possible through creating a dynamic social equilib- rium generating a new motivation structure based on social relationships strongly influenced by the principles of equity of chances and meritocracy