Anciennes et nouvelles inégalités économiques : le cas tchèque
In: Revue d'études comparatives est-ouest: RECEO, Band 27, Heft 1, S. 81-108
ISSN: 2259-6100
Economie inequalities, old and new : the Czech experience.
During the period of transition, the question of economic inequalities takes on, for a variety of reasons, a new importance and a new significance. There are a good many people for whom economic reform has meant considerable financial difficulty, or indeed poverty. At the same time, privatization, the restitution of property and the existence of private business undertakings create wealth : consequently, these factors call into question the earlier option of "supposed equality", and their legitimacy is challenged. In conditions of newly acquired political freedom, the problem of inequality can be openly discussed, and handled as a political issue.
In the present article, the intention is to analyse the root causes of the existing situation, and to list recent changes as they are reflected in the various forms of the phenomenon of inequality. The first part deals with the legacy of communist society, which was a mixture of equality and privilege. The second has to do with the order of the market, which has to be defined more broadly then as a fundamentally homogeneous system, satisfied with replacing an inequitable equality with an equitable inequality. The third part is concerned with new sources of wealth and poverty, and their impact on society. Finally, there is a comparison of the changes that have objectively come about in the context of economic inequality, and the view which people have of them. In conclusion, there will be an analysis of the situation and specific problems of the Czech Republic in relation to the other countries of Eastern Europe.