Laura Fónadová



Introduction
}
}Contemporary European societies are undergoing
a process of continual transformation, including substantial changes in the dynamics of labour
markets.
}
}The special case: Social change and the transformation of the social structure in Central and
Eastern Europe after the 1989 transition.

CEE - Before the transition in 1989
}
}The defining characteristic of socialist countries was state ownership of the means of production.
}On average, 90 percent of the labor force was employed by the state and most income was paid by
the state.
}„Over-protection“ of workers with permanent contracts.
}In some countries private enterpreneurship was allowed (Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary)

Features of socialist economies
}Absence of property incomes
}Small gaps between average pay of non-manual and manual workers
}Low direct taxes
}However, total tax burden was high
}Greater importance of income redistribution
}High family allowances relative to wages
}The Gini coefficient was around 22 like in the very egalitarian Nordic countries

Level of income inequality from 1989  CEE countries
In: Nina Bandelj and Matthew C. Mahutga. Social Forces, July 2010, Vol. 88, No. 5.


Three main social trends of the transition towards post-industrial, knowledge-based service
economy:
1.changes in the labour structure and in employment relations;
2.demographic changes and changes in family and household composition;
3.the individualization of responsibilities and the monetisation of economic and social relations.

Employment structure of CEE countries



For further and current empirical data:
}
}
}https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.IND.EMPL.ZS?end=2019&locations=CZ-OE-EU&name_desc=false&st
art=1991&view=chart
}

Social risks
}
}A social risk could be defined as the probability that people experience a welfare loss during the
course of their lives as a consequence of social and economic changes (Yang, 2014).
In: Jongmin YANG (2014). Welfare States' Policy Response to New Social Risk: Sequence Analysis for
Welfare Policy. Development and Society, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 269-296.

Classification of social risks
}(Esping-Andersen, 1999)
}
}Please name them:
}
1.Class-based risks (people in lower social strata, spatial dimensions)
2.Life-course risks (typically in early or later life period)
3.Intergenerational risk (the reproduction of social disadvantages)

Threats of unemployment
three different types of social risks can be identified in Western.
While class-based risks are primarily concerned with the unequal distribution of risks between
social classes, life-course risks involve the uneven distribution of risks over the life of the
individual.
Intergenerational risks, by contrast, are more directly concerned with the intergenerational
transmission and inheritance of chances.
Ad 1) an example of class-based risks is the threat of uncertainty faced by people in poorer/lower
social strata owing to their low qualification/obsolete skills/low level of human capital.
Ad 2) Whereas life-course risks include growing threat caused by some life events or occured in
certain period of life.

The individualisation of responsibilities and monetisation of economic and social relations
•On the one hand, individualisation in the management of own life has given to citizens more power
to run their own hapiness. On the other hand, some conditions following the transition has limited
the possibilities of the individual’s real success – new vulnerable groups.
}
}Monetisation:
•Social and economic relations translated into clear monetary terms – all subject to market forces.

Comparison between Old Social Risks
and New Social Risks (Yang, 2014)
Obsah obrázku stůl Popis byl vytvořen automaticky

Social chances of the Roma
in the Czech Republic
Ghetto poor street with Gypsy residents, authentic – Stock Editorial Photo © Vynikal #155600184

According to what we know from the analysis and studies about the situation of the Roma in the CR,
be a Roma (or to born into the Roma family) likely means social handicap for future life. Mentioned
researches and studies show that Roma population in the Czech Republic faces systematic
disadvantages in several areas. The most serious disadvantage is the one in the labor market. One
of the main reasons leading to this situation is the low educational level Roma people attain.
Several reports of EU institutions and organizations refer to the continuing discrimination against
Roma children in the Czech Republic’s education system.

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Number of the Roma in CR and SR
comparison between Cenzus and estimates
•
•
Who states Roma mother tongues in the last Czech cenzus (2011): 40 370
(of which 5000 as single, the rest in combination mainly with the Czech or Slovak).

Qualified estimates, however, show that there are many more Roma people than reported in the Czech
population, and the data from the census therefore do not represent the overal Roma population.
This table shows that the estimates of the number of Roma in comparison with census data
considerably differ. Such a phenomenon can be observed across most European countries.
However, these estimates typically focus on areas with higher spatial concentration of the Roma
population, which means that only the Roma people living in concentrated areas are accounted for.
But it is known that a considerable fraction of the Roma population includes those who have
assimilated, whose number is even more difficult to estimate.
It is known that the current Roma population in the Czech Republic shows a remarkable diversity.
The difference can be seen from several aspects: the language, the customs, the econocmic
activities and lifestyles.
This demonstrates the problem of defining who is Roma and who is not. A concept of an ethnic group.

}The question of ethnic identification:
}
}The discrepancy between:
}Those who consider themselves to be Roma
}Those who are considered as Roma by others.
}
} The boundary of ethnicity is fuzzy,
the classification depends on who does it.
}
}Question: What can we consider as criteria for ethnicity?
}
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1.Various authors and expert estimates point out against the cenzus data that they not represent
the total Roma population or that the official demographic data underestimate the size of the Roma
population. Thus, we see that people who do not identify themselves as Roma, are still classified
as by others (experts or researchers).
2.Problems with the definition of who and based on what criteria identify as Roma.
3. Groupness – „býti skupinou“: „This means thinking of ethnicity,race, and nation not in terms of
substantial groups or entities,
   but in terms of practical categories, cultural idioms, cognitive schemas, discursive frames,
   organizational routines, institutional forms, political projects, and contingent events.“

Three different system of classification
1.
1.Self-identification by respondents
2.Classificaton by experts who deal with the Roma (teachers, officials, social workers, policmen
etc.)
3.Classificaton by social researchers/interviewers – based on judgemnet „on-the-fly“.
4.
}The question of external, third party identification (TPI)
}

The boundary of ethnicity is fuzzy, the classificaton depends on who does it.
All of them are real.
2. The Roma are those who need special attention, assistance or special policy instrument. People
who are classified as Roma in this way tend to be related to a social or welfare problem. Moreover
such definition mostly conflates poverty and Roma ethnicity.
3. More proper for detecting the assimilated or those Roma who live in consolidated conditions.

Source of data: Czech Statistical Office (CZSO)



Distribution of the Roma population in the CR by districts – Cenzus 11
Source: CZSO
districts

https://www.email.cz/download/i/mVvlU5dntODiNn5iSYWA9dpsvZGMz0KuxJA8L7Wd9wME64IqUuXmoRBH2skc0-ZVGV_
y4Qc/AZ6A9637.jpg
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© Jindřich Štreit

https://www.email.cz/download/i/ORZH7ShxgvfVNUSpsjjak7SGxw9B48wpH0Vs-WL73sRKOMWqtI8MR-5dMGf66TzzN3V
IfyE/AZ6A9819.jpg
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© Jindřich Štreit

https://www.email.cz/download/i/q2LlVGWdQjyOdt0ONK7hensvXJbucgwygR166uUK1qyXqX8Sc6YHXrEEu849EEfa-Bz
T5mY/AZ6A0140.jpg
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© Jindřich Štreit

In the CR we clearly identify
}Lower economic activity rate of Roma population
}The Czech Roma often live concentrated – such areas labelled as ghettos
}Low socio-economic status of the Roma – extent of dependency on social allowances/benefits.
}The overall inferior social status of the Roma in Czech society.
}Significantly lower school success of the Roma (especially from socially excluded localities) than
that of the whole Czech population.
}In Czech society, the topic of ethnicity and educational inequality is relevant almost exclusively
to the Roma. Other ethnic minorities, such as Slovaks, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Russians, show a
much smaller ethnicity effect as a determinant of educational inequalities compared to the Roma.
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The situation of a person in the labor market is immediately reflected in the quality of life or
the living standard of his family. Regarding the standard of living of the Roma, one of its key
indicators is the rate of dependency on social allowances/benefits. This rate varies around one
fifth of all households in localities with lower proportion of Roma population up to two-thirds of
all households dependent on social benefits in areas with a higher proportion of Roma population.
Low socio-economic status of Roma people reinforces the negative stereotypes majority population
holds towards Roma people and that mass media significantly boost up (for example, recent media
discourse on “inadaptable members”).

Equal access to education
}
}Czech educational system makes reference to disadvantaged children (Education Act, 2004):
} with disabilities, physical handicap or socially disadvantaged.
}These categories of children have the right to adequate education, school counseling and school
counseling facilities.
}
}
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Although, at first glance it might seem obvious that there are no barriers in the access to
education or discriminatory behavior against selected groups of pupils in the Czech educational
system, the opposite is true.

Basic features of Czech public educational system (basic level)
}Decentralization of education - majority of standard basic schools are maintained by local
municipalities
}Free syllabus and output regulation
}From 2020 there has been a change: funding based on the number of hours taught/number of pupils
(previously normative funding – based only on the number of pupils).
}Free school choice
}Diversified school structure – especially in larger cities contributes to the ethnic segregation
of schools or classes (a phenomenon known as "white flight")
}The Czech educational system continues in maintaining segregational tendencies. See the report
(2019) of the Office of the Government of the CR:
}http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-government-agency-for-social-inclusion-publishes-analysis-
of-segregation-in-primary-schools?fbclid=IwAR2CXIjF4s0iIgxLKolSBv4tnro_DOEW8ALHWrR9SG2BuFogJeV0ADD7
QeQ#.XeIH8o-0Nbg.facebook
}
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Inequalities in public education
}
}The school performance of children and chances for further education are/is determined by early
school choice to a greater extent than in OECD countries – the effect is multiplied in the case of
children from Roma family background.
}
}Diversified school structure with free choice of school – especially in larger cities contributes
to the ethnic segregation of schools or classes (a phenomenon known as "white flight"):
} 1.  „The Nestlings“ (Ptáčata, document of the Czech public TV, 2010–2020)
} http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10267754387-ptacata-aneb-nejsme-zadna-becka/4238-ptacata/
} 2. The Czech version of the Class Of (2014):
} http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10719503009-trida-8-a/313294340250001/
}
}
}
}
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It is an example of the class at an elementary school here in Brno which was created after the
non-Roma parents signed a petition in which they demanded that their children should not be put
into the same class with the Roma children.
Afterwards based on this real case the document was created.
Intro from 1:41.
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10267754387-ptacata-aneb-nejsme-zadna-becka/bonus/990-trailer/
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10719503009-trida-8-a/video/ 1:30

Example of ethnic differentiation among primary schools (in Brno)
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Measures to combat unequal chances in primary education – in the CR
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Causes – institutional level
•The Czech Republic belongs in European milieu to those countries, where social origin of an
individual strongly influences his/her educational attainment (OECD, 2018).
•Consequently, the issue of relationship between ethnicity and educational inequalities (chances)
is almost exclusively relevant to Roma minority and it can be already found at the level of primary
education.
•The segregation tendencies of the Czech educational system are pointed out even in some official
(government-issued) documents Þ According to these official estimates in the school year 2016/17 a
quarter of all Roma pupils were educated in primary schools with 50% or more enrolled Roma pupils,
(Report on the Status of the Roma Minority…, 2017: 30).
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The main problems on the side of actors
}
}the transition between the pre-primary and the 1st level of elementary (primary/basic) education;
}the transition between primary and lower secondary levels of education (the second stage is
accompanied by a major outflow of Roma pupils); which influences
}limited chances of attainment upper secondary/tertiary education

Inequalities in public education
}
Questions at the end:
}
} How to eliminate disadvanteges in education?
}How can be the results (success) of the implementation of inclusive measures reliably
demonstrated?
}How to stopping or reversing the negative trend of growing school segregation?
}
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Some research studies point to the fact that the Czech school system can not adequately compensate
for the different skills that stem from different social backgrounds (Matějů, Straková, 2006). If
we also take into account the fact that the free choice for a school forms - especially in larger
cities - an ethnically segmented educational market where local hierarchy of schools exists and
leads to pupils’ selection, we are faced to a deeper dilemma regarding the possibility to find
general effective tools of inclusive policies. It points to the real key players who are the
parents and their rational learning/educational strategies.

No Data – No Progress
}
}„Hard-to-survey“ population (Font, Mendez, 2013; Kappelhof, 2015).
}Initiatives of the European Union, as well as national governments to improve the collection of
data relating to Roma.
}Governments should collect ethnic data and use it for the purposes of inclusion policies
}http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/no-data-no-progress-20100628.pdf

•
•
•https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/equali
ty-data-collection_en
•
Young men and women with different skin color

The new empowering politics of the welfare state
•
•A new political economy of skill formation would, represent a useful policy instrument, but this
would still not be enough to ensure adaptation and coverage in a more insecure labour market.
•
•Welfare policies as ‘’institutional complementaries’’ of market system.
• A redefinition of the main redistributive priorities of the welfare state necessary and with it a
recalibration of its main norms, institutional structures, and functions à the introduction of new
and more specific policy instruments and political discourses.
•«Social investement».
(Source: Cerami, 2008)

•Cerami, A. (2008) „New Social Risks in Central and Eastern Europe.“ Sociologicky časopis/Czech
Sociological Review, Vol. 44, No. 6: 1089–1110.
•Kahanec, M., Guzi, M.,  Martišková, M., and Siebertová, Z. (2014). “Slovakia and the Czech
Republic: Inequalities and Convergences after the Velvet Divorce.” In Nolan, B., Salverda, W.,
Checchi, D., Marx, I. (et al.): Changing Inequalities and Societal Impacts in Rich Countries –
Thirty Countries' Experiences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 569-592.
•Yang, Jongmin (2014). „Welfare States' Policy Response to New Social Risk: Sequence Analysis for
Welfare Policy.“ Development and Society, Vol. 43, No. 2: pp. 269-296.
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References

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Thank you for your attention!
Contact: laura @econ.muni.cz