Alfred Chan
Czech presentation
Introduction chapter
 Social equality was an important aspect in the former
socialist states
o Ideologically
 Czechoslovakia followed this ideal to a very
significant extent then anywhere in the Eastern
Europe
 Economically
o It eliminated the private sector
o Had a more egalitarian income policy
 Political
o Retaining the office of the president of
the republic (for life)
 Culture and Discourse
o Culture
 System of collectively held notions, beliefs,
premises, ideas
 Not in peoples “heads” but is “shared symbols”
which people us to communicate
o Discourse
 Helps uncovers a certain event internally
 Culture vs. Politics
o Politics hasn’t been studied as a part of the culture
system
 Usually seen as a system which is full of rules/
rational consideration of the utilitarian aspect of
rule
 Give and Take
o People follow their material interest as consumers
 Market of benefits, right, duties and privileges
o Politics is about interest groups, economic forces and
power relations
 Holy sees politics as an aspect of the overall cultural system
 Holy’s study of discourse concentrates on
o Market economy
o Forms of ownership
o Democratic pluralism
o Civil societies
o Czech history and statehood
 *All post communist aspect
 Within the book
o Demonstrations in Prague 1988 + 1989, leading to
velvet revolution 1989
o The transformation of Czech economy
o The discussion of the negotiated discussions on
political structure – post communism
 Study focus on content not structure
 Czechs work really hard to maintain and re-produce their
time honored traditions and deep-rooted cultures
 National Identity is constructed to oppose other’s perceptions
o 19th C – Identity constructed to consciously oppose the
Germans
 Both shared geographical, political and economic
space within Austria Hungary
 A restoration of their identity after 300 years
of Habsburg rule
Velvet revolution (Nov 1989)
Ended communist rule in Czechoslovakia
The overthrow of the reign wasn’t instigated by
the ruling elites but by the populous (students,
actors, others with intelligence)
 The nationalist up-surge didn’t result in violence
 Like Yugoslavia and other former soviet states
o Had constitutional crisis and political stand still
Historical knowledge + information from discourse = “at last
telling the truth about our history”
 We are what we are because of what happened in our past
 States to construct culture by describing the separation of
private vs. public domains
o The total abolition of private ownership from the
socialist Czechoslovakia
 Holy
o Born in Prague
 Lived there for 35 years
o 1968 – left for UK
 lived there for 14 years
o 1992, July to 1993, Jan
 did study on Czech
 Society stratified into economic and education status
 Also depended on rural and urban
o Still felt a “cultural commonality” throughout
Czechoslovakia
 Books aimed towards the study of the shared cultural
meaning