Empirical Research on Social Stratification in the Visegrád Countries: An Overview

This article outlines developments in empirical research on social stratification in the four countries constituting currently the Visegrád Group (V4). Sociology has been developing, if unevenly, as a discipline in these countries since the 19th or early 20th century. Empirical research on social stratification, based on data collected in large surveys, started here by the mid-1960s, first in Poland, then in Hungary, and later in the former Czechoslovakia. In spite of the ideological pressure of the communist regimes in all of these countries, the conditions for sociological studies were much better in Poland and Hungary than in Czechoslovakia, where such research was frozen for a long time after the communist putsch of 1948 and again after the Soviet occupation in 1968. After 1990, this kind of research enjoyed an energetic new start in all the post-communist countries, as they opened fully to the West and integrated into international networks. In addition, comparative research within the V4 region started with the challenging project "Social Stratification in Eastern Europe after 1989." Many national surveys were conducted and East-West cooperation intensified. Currently, most empirical research on social stratification occurs on a national or bilateral basis, or is developed within larger European projects.